Vendée Globe – The round-up on the qualifications - 28 out of 30

by Vendée Globe on 22 Jul 2016 Two more skippers have this week completed their qualification for the Vendée Globe: Nandor Fa, who has covered considerably more than the 1,500 nautical miles he was required to sail. Next up, Stéphane Le Diraison, who is about to cross the finish line of the Transat Quebec-Saint Malo this Friday.

Some 107 days before the race start, twenty-eight of the thirty sailors preparing to take part in the Vendée Globe 2016 have now satisfied their marine obligations and have qualified for the Everest of the Seas.

With the latest qualification of Hungarian Nandor Fa and Frenchman Stéphane Le Diraison, there are just two skippers still to secure the precious entry ticket. It’s worth noting that in terms of the marine-element of the qualification the skippers must have completed either a round the world or a solo or double-handed transatlantic race aboard an IMOCA.

If the first part of their qualification relates to a double-handed race (like the Barcelona World Race or the Transat Jacques Vabre for example), the skippers are obliged to cover an additional 1,500 miles in solo configuration, aboard the boat with which they intend to take the start of the Vendée Globe 2016.

Today, during their participation in the numerous transatlantic races organised over recent months (Transat Jacques Vabre, Calero Solo, The Transat, Transat New York Vendée), this marine qualification has been completed by the following twenty-eight sailors: Jérémie Beyou, Tanguy de Lamotte, Vincent Riou, Armel Le Cléac'h, Jean-Pierre Dick, Fabrice Amédéo, Sébastien Josse, Thomas Ruyant, Kito de Pavant, Bertrand de Broc, Louis Burton, Rich Wilson, Romain Attanasio, Morgan Lagravière, Alex Thomson, Sébastien Destremau, Alan Roura, Pieter Heerema, Arnaud Boissières, Paul Meilhat, Eric Bellion, Yann Eliès, Didac Costa, Conrad Coleman, Kojiro Shiraishi, Enda O'Coineen and now Nandor Fa and Stéphane Le Diraison. Contacted by phone this Friday morning, Stéphane Le Diraison was having to contend with very light winds off Cap Fréhel: “I’ll make Saint Malo late today,” he assured us.