Van den Heede's grey globe trotter

Launching today is the Vendee Globe veteran's new Open 85, built to take on the non-stop singlehanded round the world record westabout

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In early October this year, Jean-Luc van den Heede, otherwise known as VDH for the obvious reasons, will set off around the world against the prevailing winds in an attempt to break the singlehanded non-stop around the world record. Originally set by Chay Blyth, this record is now in the hands of Frenchman Philippe Monnet.

VDH, a long term competitor in singlehanded round the races - he has done four of them including the first two Vendee Globe Challenges - made an attempt on this record 18 months ago. He had rounded Cape Horn and was hammering into the Southern Ocean when the bottom of his carbon fibre Open 60 began to delaminate. He was forced to make an about turn and head for Chile.

Soon after Philippe Monnet set off in another Open 60, UUNet, and after experiencing many difficulties managed to finish in 151 days 19 hours and 54 minutes days, breaking the record, at the time held by Mike Golding, by nearly 16 days.

Van den Heede, the bearded maths professor, was not to be beaten and found sponsorship to build a new boat. While previously his boat and Monnet's were modified Open 60s optimised for sailing around the world eastabout, his new boat is purpose-built for the lengthy windward passage round the Southern Ocean. The result, launched today in Port Bourgenais on France's Biscay coast, is Adrien.

85ft long, Adrien was built in aluminium at Chantier Gamelin in La Rochelle to a design by Gilles Vaton. Her beam, sail area and draft are modest compared to an Open 60, but VDH wanted a boat with long waterline length and sails large enough to drive the boat, but small enough to handle with relative ease. The masthead rig is based around a carbon fibre spar and has an inner forestay and babystay.

Vital statistics
LOA: 85ft
Beam: 17ft 8in
Draft: 15ft
Mast height: 94ft