Vendee Globe dock walk - a video look at the 40 IMOCA60s set up for solo racing
by Sail-World.com/nz 31 Oct 2024 06:35 PDT
1 November 2024
Dock at Lorient - 2024-25 Vendée Globe - October 2024 - Lorient © Vincent Curutchet / DPPI / Vendee Globe
Starting on November 10 from Les Sables-d'Olonne, on the Atlantic coast of France, 40 entries from 10 nations will contest the 24,300nm (45,000km) solo non-stop, unassisted race is the largest of its type in the world.
British solo sailor, Pip Hare (50) will be competing in her second Vendee Globe this time sailing Medallia.
In a two part series, Pip Hare, and Joff Brown the Technical Director of her team, Pip Hare Ocean Racing take us on an early morning dock walk, around the 40 entries in the 2024 Vendee Globe. Some are new IMOCA60's the class used in the race, and now also The Ocean Race. Others are recycled IMOCA60s from previous editions of the Vendee Globe. Joff Brown is veteran of managing five Vendee Globe campaigns through to a finish, and gives an excellent explanation of the design features of the full or partial foiling monohulls.
This years Vendee Globe will see several new IMOCA60s competing which have been designed with both singlehanded and fully crewed racing in mind.
In a third video Pip Hare explains the latest refit given to the eight year old Medallia - above and below decks giving an insight into the complexity of the IMOCA60's and the development process to upgrade the older boats, to make them competitive with the latest designs.
There are 40 competitors in the Vendee Globe, six of them are women, and of the top five ranked sailors/teams two of those or 40% are female sailors competing in open competition.