On thin ice
The route of the 10th edition of the Vendee Globe starts and finishes in France, heading south through the Atlantic Ocean, around Antarctica, past the famed capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and Horn, before piling back up the Atlantic from whence they came.
The theoretical distance travelled would be 45,000km, but many competitors have sailed more than 52,000km in previous editions. The record time achieved, of 74 days and three hours during the eighth edition in 2016-2017 by Armel Le Cléac’h, is under threat.
The first finishers of the 2024-25 edition are slated to complete the race in mid-January, in around 66 days, with the French pair of Charlie Dalin, the 2021 runner-up, and Yoann Arkea leading the charge at time of writing.
Only 114 of 200 sailors have ever completed the race so even finishing is quite the achievement.
Conditions range from unruly weather and disorienting swells to an unearthly hush, bobbing idly, frustratingly, in ocean lulls.
Route plotting, eating, sleeping, boat fixing, food making, injury managing, mental health balancing – all aspects of this race – are down to each competitor, with only medical and technical advice offered, and only as a matter of safety.
For the first time since 2008, this also included an iceberg warning after Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), the organisation retained by the Vendee Globe to use its satellites and teams of experts to monitor the ice from space, raised the alarm.
