After a delay of 48 hours due to severe weather, French singlehander Jean Luc Van den Heede (VDH), veteran of four solo circumnavigations and one previous attempt at the solo westabout record, left Brest at 0800 and was aiming to cross the ‘starting line’, a line between Brest and The Lizard, at 1300.

Fifty six year-old VDH is sailing Adrien, an 85ft aluminium Giles Vatton boat designed specifically for this record, currently 151 days and held by fellow Frenchman Philippe Monnet. He believes that he can beat this record by up to 11 days. His previous attempt failed in mid-Pacific when his Open 60 was substantially damaged after a collision with flotsam.

The November issue of Yachting World, published on 11 October, has the full story about VDH and his boat.