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  Vendee Globe & Olympics news—Sailing news from North America & beyond
 | | Banque Populaire VIII has taken the lead 20 days into the Vendee Globe Race 2016/17 © Armel Le Cléac'h / Banque Populaire |
All across the US of A, the past week has been filled with frantic travel, massive amounts of food preparation, even bigger amounts of gluttony, some family time, some Black Friday sharp elbows, and more frantic travel back home for the start of Cyber Monday. If this is leaving you a bit breathless, take heart, as this is merely the start to an entire month that's dedicated to gatherings of family, friends and colleagues, religious happenings (choose your flavor), gift giving, good cheer and hopefully some down time to take stock of the fact that yet another year is about to pass astern.
While this last point can leave your head spinning, the great thing about the holiday season is that it also quietly marks the darkest days of the year and an (eventual) return to the light...and, eventually, to great days of sailing.
The spring sailing season might seem a world away on this chilly November morn, but for the 25 brave skippers who are still participating in this year's Vendee Globe, they have nothing but miles to mark their days, weeks and months as they battle their way around the planet.
 | | Banque Populaire (Armel Le Cleac'h) - Vendée Globe Vincent Curutchet / DPPI / Vendée Globe © |
As of this writing, Armel Le Cleac'h, sailing aboard Banque Populaire VIII, was leading the hunt, followed by Alex Thomson, sailing aboard his foil-damaged Hugo Boss, and Sebastien Josse, sailing aboard Edmond de Rothschild, with some 476.2 nautical miles separating Josse's bow stem from Le Cleac'h's stern post. Impressively, only 30.3 miles separates Thomson from Le Cleac'h, despite Hugo Boss suffering from a broken DSS foil (AKA, a “Dali foil”).
The first six boats have now rounded the Cape of Good Hope and are beginning their Southern Ocean steeping, their bows aimed at waypoints significantly south of Tasmania as they begin punching eastbound.
 | | Edmond de Rothschild - 2016 Vendee Globe © Thierry Martinez / Gitana S.A. |
“I'm sailing along averaging twenty knots with lots of birds circling me, petrels, albatrosses... it's a rather gentle entry into the Indian Ocean,” said Josse. “I took advantage to smarten the boat up a bit. Now I'm looking ahead to another transition. We should be able to make good progress for two or three days, which isn't too bad.”
American Rich Wilson, the only full-blooded American participating in the 2016/2017 Vendee Globe, who is sailing aboard Great American IV, is currently sitting in 19th place. (N.B., Conrad Coleman, who is currently sitting in TK place and who is sailing aboard Foresight Natural Energy, holds American and New Zealand passports.) Not bad at all, considering that Wilson (age 66) is the oldest skipper in the race and suffers from sever asthma; more importantly, Wilson's goal with this Vendee Globe (and in his previous Vendee Globe experience) is to help educate schoolchildren, not to contend for a podium finish.
 | | Rich Wilson (Great American IV) - Vendée Globe © Bernard Gergaud |
It will be interesting to see if Hugo Boss will be able to keep up with her rivals as the fleet thunders into the Southern Ocean and as the Dali foils become more and more important to maintaining boatspeed and tactical positioning.
Meanwhile, in Olympic-sailing news, word literally just broke that two-time Olympic gold medalist Malcolm Page (44; AUS) has been named Chief of Olympic Sailing at US Sailing. Page will be replacing Josh Adams, who served as Managing Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing from 2012 to 2016. Page won gold in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in the Men's 470 Class and is considered to be Australia's most successful Olympic-class sailor, having also won the Men's 470 Worlds title seven times.
 | | Malcolm Page Induction 2016 The Sport Australia Hall of Fame |
Following his successful Olympic-sailing career, Page served as Head of Media at World Sailing (nee ISAF); prior to this experience, he had been working as a communications consultant at an Australian telecommunication company.
“I'm very excited to get back into the performance side of the sport, which is where I cut my teeth, and where my passion has always been,” said Page. “I am looking forward to working with an ambitious group of American athletes and helping them realize their dreams. The US Sailing Team has an extraordinary history in Olympic sailing, with more medals won than any other nation. I know I can play a part in getting the United States back to the top.”
 | | Malcolm Page onEdition © |
Page is expected to take the reins at US Sailing starting on January 1. Stay tuned to this space for more news about this big job announcement in the weeks to come.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor
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