Paul Meilhat was the winner of the IMOCA 60 class in the last Route du Rhum back in 2018, adding that victory to a CV full of podium places and…
IMOCA 60: Everything you need to know about the Vendée Globe boats
Route du Rhum skipper: Damien Seguin
Whilst there are some routes that are well-trodden to becoming an IMOCA skipper (Mini Transat, Figaro, Class 40…), there are a variety of routes into the world of offshore shorthanded…
Route du Rhum skipper: Romain Attanasio
Nothing about Romain Attanasio’s early life indicated that he might end up a solo offshore yacht racer. He was born to a skiing family in the Hautes-Alpes region of France…
Route du Rhum skipper: Alan Roura
Swiss-born sailor Alan Roura already has two Vendée Globe races to his name. He participated in his first, the 2016-17 edition of the event, when he was just 23 years…
Route du Rhum skipper: Conrad Colman
Conrad Colman, or the ‘crazy Kiwi’ as he became known, was the first New Zealander to compete in the Vendée Globe in 2016. Colman studied economics in the US, founded…
Route du Rhum skipper: Louis Burton
Louis Burton shot to Vendée Globe fame when he sailed across the line of the 2020-21 Vendée Globe in 2nd place in his 2012 IMOCA 60 Bureau Vallée. He finished…
Route du Rhum skipper: Thomas Ruyant
Thomas Ruyant truly made his mark on the IMOCA 60 fleet in the lead up to and during the 2020-21 Vendée Globe Race. The Frenchman took 4th place on the…
Route du Rhum skipper: Sam Davies
English-born Samantha Davies has the rare status of being loved by both French and British sailing fans. She is now among the most experienced IMOCA 60 skippers in the fleet,…
Route du Rhum skipper: Charlie Dalin
Charlie Dalin has risen to become one of the stand-out stars of the current generation of IMOCA 60 sailors. His biggest moment in the spotlight so far was crossing the…
Route du Rhum skipper: Jérémie Beyou
Jérémie Beyou is one of the most experienced offshore racers in the world and has a daunting record of wins and podium places across a wide variety of classes, in…
Route du Rhum skipper: Kevin Escoffier
Kevin Escoffier is a hugely experienced ocean racer, a Volvo Ocean Race winner and a member of Loick Peyron’s Banque Populaire V crew that smashed the fully crewed round the…
Kevin Escoffier: Tough guy of the sea
We all know how French solo skippers get so darn good. They move from youth sailing to Mini Transat and Figaro classes, where they drill for years. Then the lucky…
Extraordinary boats: the new radical PRB IMOCA 60
As if the new PRB IMOCA 60 were not eye-catching enough, the story behind it is truly remarkable. The reason Kevin Escoffier needed a new IMOCA in a hurry is…
Vendée Arctique: whole fleet forced to stop, will not restart
The second edition of the Vendée Arctique has been brought to a stop by race organisers halfway through the course as a dangerous low pressure system has been deemed too…
Everything you need to know about the Vendée Arctique
The Vendée Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne race is set to begin this weekend, Sunday 12 June 2022 and will see 25 solo skippers competing on their IMOCA 60s. The race may…
Extraordinary Boats: the new 11th Hour Racing IMOCA 60
For decades the whole point of designing an IMOCA 60 has been to win the Vendée Globe solo round the world race. However, the adoption of the class by The…
Alex Thomson stands down as Vendée Globe skipper
British sailor Alex Thomson has announced he won’t compete as a skipper in the 2024 Vendée Globe, the solo, non-stop race around-the-world, but doesn’t rule out returning to the race…
The rise and rise of double-handed racing
If ever the stars aligned to see a sport’s popularity grow exponentially, they did so for the recent story of double-handed racing offshore. Societal changes, a brief hint of a…
Jean Le Cam: Vendée Globe legend they call ‘The King’
He’s the solo skipper who might remind you of Keith Richards. A rugged, hawkish face topped off with an unruly mop of black curly hair, Jean Le Cam was the…
Vendée Globe 2020 preview: Next generation foilers will sail on the limit
The world of single-handed offshore racing is a uniquely rarefied one. It’s an oft-quoted statistic that more people have been into space than sailed around the planet non-stop, but solo…