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Vendée Globe
Armel Le Cléac’h Wins Vendée Globe
Les Sables d’Olonne, France (January 19, 2017) – Armel Le Cléac’h, 39, from Brittany, crossed the finish line of the race in
Les Sables d’Olonne, France, at 1537hrs UTC after 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds at sea on his 60ft racing
yacht Banque Populaire VIII.
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The eighth Vendée Globe, which began November
6 from Les Sables d’Olonn, France, is the only nonstop
solo round the world race without assistance.
Twenty-nine skippers representing four continents
and ten nations set sail on IMOCA 60s in pursuit of
the record time set by François Gabart in the 2012-
13 race of 78 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes.
For the first time in the history of the event, seven
skippers will set sail on IMOCA 60s fitted with foils:
six new boats (Banque Populaire VIII, Edmond de
Rothschild, Hugo Boss, No Way Back, Safran, and
StMichel-Virbac) and one older generation boat
(Maitre Coq). The foils allow the boat to reduce
displacement for speed gains in certain conditions.
It will be a test to see if the gains can topple the
traditional daggerboard configuration during the
long and demanding race.
His time sets a new record for the race, beating the
previous record of 78 days 2 hours 16 minutes set by
French sailor Francois Gabart in the 2012-13 edition
by 3 days, 22 hours and 41 minutes. Le Cléac’h, the
runner-up in the 2008-09 and 2012-13 editions of the
Vendée Globe, covered 24,499.52 nm at an average
speed of 13.77 knots during the race, which began
from Les Sables d’Olonne on November 6 last year.
The Vendée Globe, which was founded in 1989,
follows the ‘clipper route’ around Africa’s Cape of
Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin and South
America’s Cape Horn. Second-placed Alex Thomson is
expected to cross the finish line on his boat Hugo Boss
around 12 hours behind Le Cléac’h.
Le Cléac'h, 39, from Brittany, sealed the win – and a
place in the Vendée Globe history books – crossing the
finish line at 1537 UTC to complete the course in 74
days, three hours and 35 minutes. His time sets a new
record for the race, beating the previous record of 78
days 2 hours 16 minutes set by French sailor François
Gabart in the 2012-13 edition by three days, 22 hours
and 41 minutes.
Dozens of spectator boats took to the water to welcome
their new hero back to the French port of Les Sables
d'Olonne, from where the race started on November 6
last year. With his shore crew taking control of his 60ft
IMOCA race boat Banque Populaire VIII, a tearful Le
Cléac'h was left to enjoy an emotional reunion with
his son Edgar, 6, and daughter Louise, 9. Thousands
more fans lined the walls of the town's famous harbour
entrance as Le Cléac'h arrived dockside at Port Olona
to a fanfare of fireworks.
Le Cléac'h, runner-up in the last two editions of the
Vendée Globe, said he had now fulfilled a lifelong
dream. “This is a dream come true,” he said. “I hoped
to win this race 10 years ago but I finished second.
Today is a perfect day. I understand that today I have
done something big. My team have been amazing
they're the dream team, and this is their day too.” Le
Cléac'h also paid tribute to Thomson for his skill and
tenacity in pushing him right to the finish line. “It has
been very difficult with Alex behind me, he gave me
a really hard time in this Vendée Globe,” he added.
“Each time things went his way and I got nothing.
It was stressful because he kept catching me. With a
lead of 800 miles off Cape Horn, I didn’t think I’d be
facing such pressure. I'm very happy for Alex, it is a
great second place.”
Le Cléac'h took the lead within 24 hours of the
race start but had lost it to Thomson by the time
the skippers, both racing on new-generation foiling
IMOCA 60s, reached the Equator. After catching
Thomson in the Southern Ocean the pair traded places
on numerous occasions before Le Cléac'h established
a solid lead on December 3. From that point on he
refused to relinquish his grip on first place despite a
sensational effort from Thomson to reduce an 819nm
deficit at Cape Horn to just 50 miles at the Equator.
Even when Thomson surged to within 30 miles of Le
Cléac'h with a few hundred miles to go the French
sailor held strong, defending his position until victory
was all but guaranteed.
Le Cléac'h averaged an incredible 15.43 knots of
boat speed over the 27,455 miles he actually sailed,
on occasion hitting speeds in excess of 30 knots. His
best 24-hour run came on January 16 when Banque
Populaire covered 524.11nm averaging 21.8 knots,
surpassed only by Thomson who on the same day
sailed 536.81nm averaging 22.4 knots, breaking
François Gabart's existing record by two miles. Le
Cléac'h held the top spot for 56 of his 74 days at
sea, and between him and Thomson they broke every
single one of the existing race records. MS
Source: Vendée Globe
Editor’s Note
The Vendée Globe is the hardest and most famous sailing
race in the world. Nicknamed the Everest of the Seas, it
involves sailing around the world alone, without stopping
and without assistance, setting sail from and finishing in
Les Sables d’Olonne, after rounding the three legendary
capes: The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Cape
Leeuwin in Southern Australia and the infamous Cape
Horn at the tip of South America. They therefore have to
sail twice in the North and South Atlantic – on the way
down and on the way back – and sail around Antarctica by
crossing the Indian Ocean and the huge Pacific. Like other
major international sporting events (the Olympics, World
Cup, etc) it has been organised every four years since 1989.
This merciless event, which combines human endeavour
and technological aspects, is raced on 60-foot monohulls
(18.28 m), IMOCA boats. The Vendée Globe has been
won by some very famous sailors, Titouan Lamazou,
Alain Gautier, Christophe Auguin, Vincent Riou and
François Gabart. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel
Desjoyeaux in 2001 and 2009. The race record is held by
François Gabart, who finished after 78 days. The eighth
Vendée Globe will begin from Les Sables d’Olonne on
Sunday 6th November 2016.
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