A chap called Graeme emailed (thank you!) with these additions to my earlier blog about skippers in possession of mutimillion pound new boats that are not yet qualified for the Vendée Globe: Jonny Malbon – Artemis (new boat launches in January) and Brian Thompson – Pindar. He adds:

‘Neither Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) nor Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec Virbac 2) is qualified yet, but will be should they complete the Barcelona World Race.

‘The notice of race makes a provision for three wildcards, who fail to qualify by the cut off date. That gives the organisers some flexibility if any of the above retire from the Transat next year.

‘The other issue is that there are 28 skippers listed on the Vendee site, and adding Marc Thiercelin and Brian Thompson to this takes the total to 30. According to the NOR, entries are limited to 27, so there might be several disappointments.’

There might be indeed, but if no-one does drop out, hey, Notices of Race are made to be rewritten.