23 entries

Vendee Globe organisers and competitors meet in Paris

This morning in Paris, Philippe de Villiers, President of the SAEM Vendée, the organisation behind the Vendée Globe, presented this year's running of the unaided, non-stop, singlehanded round the world sailing event, which will start on 7 November from Les Sables d’Olonne.

23 skippers representing seven nationalities make up the list of participants for the finest and toughest single-handed ocean race having fulfilled the necessary qualifying criteria to take part in the next Vendée Globe.

Among these seven nationalities are represented including England, Australia, Austria, Belgium, the U.S., France and Switzerland). Of the 23, two are women and 14 will be taking part for the first time.

"These include newcomers like Sébastien Josse, Vincent Riou, Conrad Humphreys, Karen Leibovici… all aged around 30, which is proof of the emergence of a new generation of skippers. They will be competing alongside more experienced singlehanded yachtsmen like Marc Thiercelin, Roland Jourdain, Jean le Cam and Mike Golding for example - most of whom already have several round the world trips under their belt. It is this wide variety of men and women taking part, which really makes this list of participants so rich. says Denis Horeau, the Race Director.

23 boats is estimated to amount to around two third of the world's fleet of Open 60s

The skippers and boats are due in Les Sables d’Olonne by the 16 October, to be ready for the starting gun of this fifth edition, which will be fired at 1300 on 7 November.

To further improve the safety of the event some new features have been added to this year's event. 1992-3 winner, Alain Gautier, has been employed to act as a safety adviser meanwhile, as previously reported on thedailysail, Sydney the race will be represented by solo ocean racing veteran David Adams who will act as liaison officer for the race in case of any eventualities taking place in the Southern Ocean.

"Today, the singlehanded non-stop circumnavigation can be made in less than 94 days and ocean racing continues to make great strides forward. But one thing has remained unchanged since 1989 : safety is and as always will be paramount," insists Horeau. "There will be 23 of them setting out on this great voyage and there must be 23 of them finishing back in Les Sables d’Olonne to tell us all about it."

At the press conference Louis Guedon, the local MP and the town’s Mayor presented the main features of a new 6,000sqm village that will be erected in Port Olona prior to the start. This will include many events, a big wheel, a craft village, an educational fun trail based around the sea for children, a business park … They have also paid particular attention to the berths for the boats, which are 7.5 m wider and some 86 metres longer than four years ago.

For this year's race there is a new partner in the national French Rail operator, the SNCF, who will be offering a Paris-based HQ for the race at the impressive Montparnasse Station. From 8 November, the day after the start, the space that will act as the nerve centre of the Vendee Globe will be opening its doors in an area above the departure and arrival zone for trains to and from the West coast of France! At this venue each day general public and media will be able to listen in to the radio reports from the skippers and follow the latest developments in the race.

Competitor line up

Boat		Skipper	Nat	Participation	Notes
VM MATERIAUX	Patrice	CARPENTIER	FR	3rd	ex Solidaire
VIRBAC	Jean-Pierre	DICK	FR	1st
SOGAL EXTENSO	Raphaël	DINELLI	FR	3rd
	Patrick	FAVRE	FR	1st
ECOVER	Mike	GOLDING	ANG	2nd	ex Gartmore
OBJECTIF 3	Charles	HEDRICH	FR	1st
HELLOMOTO	Conrad	HUMPHREYS	ANG	1st	ex Team Group 4/Ecover
VMI	Sébastien	JOSSE	FR	1st	ex Sodebo
SILL	Roland	JOURDAIN	FR	2nd
UUDS	Hervé	LAURENT	FR	2nd
BONDUELLE	Jean	LE CAM	FR	1st
BENEFIC	Karen	LEIBOVICI	FR	1st
GONNA GITCHA	Anne	LIARDET	FR	1st	ex-Aquarelle
SKANDIA	Nick	MOLONEY	ANG	1st	ex Kingfisher
MAX HAVELAAR/Charente-Maritime	Benoît	PERNAUDEAU	FR	1st
PRB	Vincent	RIOU	FR	1st	ex PRB 2000
OCEAN PLANET	Bruce	SCHWAB	USA	1st
AUSTRIA ONE	Norbert	SEDLACEK	AUT	1st
ARCELOR DUNKERQUE	Joe	SEETEN	FR	2nd	ex ActiveWear
PRO-FORM	Marc	THIERCELIN	FR	3rd	ex Whirlpool
HUGO BOSS	Alex	THOMSON	ANG	1st	ex Sill
TEMENOS	Dominique	WAVRE	FR	2nd	ex UBP
	Patrick	DE RADIGUES	BEL