Vendee Globe

Vendee Globe, the singlehanded around the world race, is now underway. The leaders are approaching the bottom of Africa. The Vendee Globe doesn't get much play in the United States; I guess mainly because it is mostly a French affair (out of 30 starters, eight were English, 1 was American, sounds like one of them may be Polish .... the rest French). A pity it doesn't get more press over on this side of the Atlantic. The Vendee Globe must be the most grueling of any of the endurance sports and I include the Tour de France here. The leaders are expected to take 90 days to get around and most of them seem to be on 2-3 hour sleep cycles as they constantly drive their boats. The Open 60 designs are beasts; 60 footers with clouds of sail though at least they pay some heed to shielding the crew from the worst with large steering cuddies (unlike the VOR 70's).

Videos can be found here;

www.vendeeglobe.org/en/media/videos/

Unfortunately most of the interviews are in French, a language I found beautifully melodic but incomprehensible.

Reminds me of the tired joke.

1. What do you call a person that speaks more than two languages ..... multilingual.

2. What do you call a person that speaks two languages .... bilingual.

3. What do you call a person that speaks one language ..... American.

Cowes TV did an English interview with French sailor Seb Josse sailing for BT. You get a good feel for these Open 60's. Of note is the central channel which leads all the lines aft to the steering pod for easier and protected handling of sails.



Seb Josse is currently lying second.