Benjamin Dutreux, the French solo racer whose home town now is Les Sables d’Olonne, confirmed on Tuesday this week that his team have purchased the IMOCA 11th Hour Racing. Built originally as Alex Thomson’s HUGO BOSS for the 2016-17 race on which the boat finished runner up, Dutreux is now setting out on an ambitious racing programme looking to peak on the solo round-the-world non-stop unassisted race, the 2024 Vendée Globe.

Holiday time for the Vendée Globe skippers #1

Don’t think for one minute you’ll find them lazing around on a beach. Almost six months after they reached dry land, those who took part in the Vendée Globe are planning a hard summer of studying and won’t have much time to enjoy themselves. In this our first of two articles about the summer holidays, we can see that they will never be far from the sea.

At the age of 42 and a resident of the island of Ré, where he runs a restaurant, Antoine Cornic,  who was born and bred by the sea, has always dreamt of sailing away and enjoying every moment out there. The son of a racer and friend of Yannick Bestaven, he learnt a lot from the Mini-Transat before deciding to set up a crazy project – he wants to take part in the Vendée Globe adventure in 2024.

Offshore Team Germany have won the first edition of The Ocean Race Europe, clinching the overall victory by no more than four meters on the very last race, beating 11th Hour Racing and LinkedOut to second and third steps on the podium.

Offshore Team Germany’s crew was skippered by former German Star sailor and world champion Robert Stanjek and includes Britain’s match racer turned Team SCA round the world racer  Annie Lush as well as home favourite Vendéen Vendée Globe skipper Ben Dutreux who, of course finished ninth on his first Vendée Globe. Dutreaux raced the Vendée Globe on a non-foiling Farr design which was previously Kojiro Shiraishi’s Spirit of Yukoh. And so he is well versed in making older generation boats go well, such as Offshore Team Germany’s Owen Clarke design which started life as Bubi Sanso’s Acciona.

Almost 6 months after the first skippers crossed the Vendée Globe finish line already the tenth edition, starting November 2024, is on everyone's mind. And the enthusiasm stemming from the last edition is significant, already there are around 45 sailors who are wanting to be on the starting line in just over three years time. And so here is a round up of the state of play as we go into summer, knowing of course that the clock is always ticking.