Warming up

Vendee Globe skippers announced as race preparations near conclusion

On Thursday morning in Paris, Philippe de Villiers, President of the SAEM Vendée, the organisation behind the Vendée Globe, presented the fifth edition of the unaided, non-stop, single-handed round the world sailing event, which will start on the 7 November from Les Sables d’Olonne. 23 skippers, including two women, representing seven nationalities make up the list of participants for the finest and toughest single-handed ocean race.

Today, 23 skippers have signed up and fulfilled the qualifying criteria to take part in the next Vendée Globe. 7 nationalities are represented (England, Australia, Austria, Belgium, the U.S., France and Switzerland), 2 women will be setting off and 14 skippers will be lining up for the first time for the single-handed, non-stop, unaided round the world race, Philippe de Villiers was pleased to announce at the start of the press conference, which was held in Paris this morning.

23 single-handed yachtsmen, coming from all sorts of background, with in particular a new generation of extremely ambitious young sailors. And they will all be sailing in 60 foot Open class boats, which means that two thirds of the world’s fleet of these monohulls will be taking part in this edition. Among them, some youngsters, like Sébastien Josse, Vincent Riou, Conrad Humphreys, Karen Leibovici… all aged around thirty, which is proof of the emergence of a new generation of skippers. They will be competing alongside more experienced single-handed yachtsmen – Marc Thiercelin, Roland Jourdain, Jean le Cam, Mike Golding for example - most of whom have already several round the world trips under their belt. They are discovering or coming back to this event, which should be the crowning glory of their ocean travels. It is the wide variety of men and women taking part, which really makes this list of participants so rich.

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 1 p.m. on the 7

One skipper, one boat to round the three capes: the formula, which has ensured the popularity of the Vendée Globe for the last 15 years, promises once again to work wonders during the 23,000 mile course. It is still with an optimum level of safety in mind that the organisers and the race directors have drawn up the arrangements for this fifth edition. To achieve this, two new features have been added to what has already been in place: the participation of Alain Gautier, the 1992-93 winner and race expert, as a safety adviser, and the presence in Sydney (Australia), of David Adams – for the second of the three legs, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific – as liaison officer. During the period in the Southern Seas, this champion yachtsman will be responsible, if necessary, for liasing between the race organisers and the Australian marine rescue services.

Today, the circumnavigation can be done 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 Denis 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."

Philippe de Villiers also presented all the arrangements, which after 6 months of hard work are finally ready and in place : "If we’ve reached this point today, it’s largely thanks to the work carried out with the Skippers’ association IMOCA, the French Yachting Federation (FFV) and the town of Les Sables d’Olonne" stressed the President of the SAEM Vendée, which took over the Vendée Globe in February 2004. "I’d like to add to these thanks the SODEBO company, the private partner for the event, without whom we would not have been able to offer the skippers the unprecedented level of service for such a race."

The preparations are well underway on the Vendée Globe Esplanade in Port Olonna. Louis Guedon, the local MP and the town’s Mayor presented the main features of a new 6,000 sq.m village. Many events, a big wheel, a craft village, an educational fun trail based around the sea for the young ones, a business park … A big event is planned in Les Sables d’Olonne from the 16 October. They have paid particular attention to the berths for the boats, which are 7.5 m wider and some 86 metres longer!

One of the most original features of this 2004 edition is without any doubt the partnership signed with French Railways (SNCF), who will be offering a home to the Paris headquarters in one of their finest sites, Montparnasse Station. In fact, from the 8 November, the day after the start, the nerve centre of the race will be opening its doors in an area above the departure and arrival zone for trains to and from the West coast of France! Open to the general public, it will house the monitoring and communications centre for the race. The general public and the media will be able to listen in at the end of the morning everyday to the radio reports from the skippers and thus follow the latest developments in the race.

Entries:

Skipper		Boat	No. of races	Country
CARPENTIER	Patrice	VM MATERIAUX       (ex-Solidaire)	3e	FR
DICK	Jean-Pierre	VIRBAC	1er	FR
DINELLI	Raphaël	SOGAL EXTENSO	3e	FR
FAVRE	Patrick		1er	FR
GOLDING	Mike	ECOVER	2e	ANG
HEDRICH	Charles	OBJECTIF 3        (ex-Gartmore)	1er	FR
HUMPHREYS	Conrad	HELLOMOTO     (ex-Group4/Ecover)	1er	ANG
JOSSE	Sébastien	VMI                          (ex-Sodebo)	1er	FR
JOURDAIN	Roland	SILL	2e	FR
LAURENT	Hervé	UUDS	2e	FR
LE CAM	Jean	BONDUELLE	1er	FR
LEIBOVICI	Karen	BENEFIC	1er	FR
LIARDET	Anne	GONNA GITCHA              (ex-Aquarelle.com)	1er	FR
MOLONEY	Nick	SKANDIA                (ex-Kingfisher)	1er	ANG (or AUS really! Ed)
PERNAUDEAU	Benoît	MAX HAVELAAR/Charente-Maritime	1er	FR
RIOU	Vincent	PRB                        (ex-PRB 2000)	1er	FR
SCHWAB	Bruce	OCEAN PLANET	1er	USA
SEDLACEK	Norbert	AUSTRIA ONE	1er	AUT
SEETEN	Joe	ARCELOR DUNKERQUE     (ex-Active Wear)	2e	FR
THIERCELIN	Marc	PRO-FORM          (ex-Whirlpool)	3e	FR
THOMSON	Alex	HUGO BOSS       (ex-Sill)	1er	ANG
WAVRE	Dominique	TEMENOS              (ex-Union Bancaire Privée)	2e	FR
DE RADIGUES	Patrick			BEL