Stars visit the Vendée Globe Village

by Vendée Globe on 19 Oct 2016 Since the opening of the Vendée Globe Village on 15th October in Les Sables d'Olonne, the crowds have been out and today (Wednesday) was no exception. Among the highlights the arrival of Sébastien Destremau (without his boat), and a visit from eight members of the French Olympic sailing team, including three medallists from the Rio Games.

There is a lot going on in the Vendée Globe Village in Port Olona. Here are some of today's stories.

Sébastien Destremau hopes that his boat will arrive this weekend in Les Sables d'Olonne
So far, 28 out of the 29 boats have moored up at the Vendée Globe pontoon. Only Sébastien Destremau's TechnoFirst-faceOcean is missing. While his boat is not yet there, the skipper was present today in Les Sables d'Olonne. On Wednesday he held a press conference during which he talked about the delivery trip of his IMOCA 60, which left Toulon ten days ago. “I returned by land leaving my team in Cadiz to finish the delivery trip. There isn't any wind along the coast of Portugal and Spain at the moment. The lads set off from Lisbon today using the engine. TechnoFirst-faceOcean should get here this weekend, » explained Sébastien Destremau.

At the press conference, the skipper from Toulon also talked about his preparation, after all the setbacks he has experienced, including the recent dismasting during class rule checks with just two months to go to the start of the Vendée Globe. Thanks to the support of sea folk and in spite of the limited budget of 350,000 €, Destremau will be there at the start on 6th November with the aim of completing the race if possible in less than 100 days.

Olympic heroes
On Wednesday eight members of the French Olympic team visited the Race Village, including two, who won gold in Rio: Charline Picon (windsurfing) and Damien Seguin (paralympic champion in 2.4). Pierre Le Coq (windsurfing) was also present with his bronze medal, along with Jonathan Lobert (Finn), Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (Laser), Noé Delpech (49er) and the leading French pair in the Nacra 17 class, Marie Riou and Billy Besson. They were able to talk to the Vendée Globe skippers including Armel Le Cléac'h who showed them around his boat. For some it was the first time on an MOCA60, while others already know a lot about ocean racing. In any case, the representatives of these two different sailing worlds had a lot to say to each other and learnt a lot.

Determined Didac
The only Spaniard competing in the 2016 Vendée Globe, Didac Costa had a major setback last month, when the rig on his monohull was struck by lightning. Happening just a few weeks before the start of the solo round the world race and with no headline partner, it was a worrying time. And the Spaniard is still looking for funding. “We have launched a crowdfunding campaign and hope sailing fans in Spain and in France will join us. We are finding additional funding with smaller partners, but the aim is to find a total budget of 70,000 euros.” This additional funding would allow him to acquire the equipment necessary to replace what was damaged by lightning. Costa remains confident. “I remain determined to be there at the start and there's no reason for that to change. We coped with the lightning, so nothing's going to stop us now!”