November 1st, at midnight, was the closing date for applications to enter the next Vendée Globe: To date, 37 have applied to take the start of the 9th edition of this solo non-stop round the world sailing race without assistance which promises to be particularly rich. Several records are expected to be beaten.

There will be 29 duos on the line when the IMOCA Class starts from Le Havre on Sunday heading for Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Some have the same goals but most want different things from this double handed Autumn classic which follows the coffee route from France to Brazil. The top teams will be looking to endorse their ranking among the favourites looking forwards to the Vendée Globe 2020 others consider themselves apprentices, still building miles and experience looking down the track to next year’s solo, non stop race around the world.

Yoann Richomme was a Vendée Globe 2020 candidate and was at the skippers and organisation meeting on October 3^rd. But in light of the fact he has not managed to secure the right level of funding the double winner of La Solitaire du Figaro and last year’s Class40 winner of the Route du Rhum has chosen to stand his project down and instead to look ahead to a rendezvous in 2024.