Kevin Escoffier became famous on the last Vendée Globe for all the wrong reasons. Rescued by Jean Le Cam after his IMOCA PRB broke up spectacularly early in the Southern Oceans, the episode overshadows the fact that Escoffier was very much in contention in what, after all, was just his second ever solo IMOCA race, only two years after he made the jump from crewed round the world races and record setting. Now the 41 year old racer from Saint Malo is looking to put the record straight on the next edition. With long time Vendée Globe supporters PRB, Escoffier has taken a pragmatic short cut to having a new boat on the water as quickly as possible, taking over a part build Guillaume Verdier designed IMOCA which was to be raced crewed in The Ocean Race. The boat is being finished by Jason Carrington Boats in England. The Vendée Globe website caught up with Kevin in Palma, Mallorca at the Copa del Rey where he was in his role as an ambassador for North Sails clothing.

Belgian solo skipper Denis Van Weynbergh knows only too well the disappointment of having to pull the plug on a Vendée Globe programme because of a lack of funding. Even although he had a competitive IMOCA in the yard in the shape of the boat which took Nandor Fa to eighth place in the 2016-17 race, the 50 year old company director could not make the start line of the ninth edition.
But even as he watched the trials and tribulations of many of his former Mini Class contemporaries, Yannick Bestaven, Sam Davies, Arnaud Boissières and Ari Huusela to name but four alumni of the 2001 Mini Transat which Van Weybergh raced 20 years, he made good use of his time, raising his profile and that of the Vendée Globe with a weekly TV update every Sunday.

Belgian solo skipper Dennis Van Weynbergh knows only too well the disappointment of having to pull the plug on a Vendée Globe programme because of a lack of funding. Even although he had a competitive IMOCA in the yard in the shape of the boat which took Nandor Fa to eighth place in the 2016-17 race, the 50 year old company director could not make the start line of the ninth edition.
But even as he watched the trials and tribulations of many of his former Mini Class contemporaries, Yannick Bestaven, Sam Davies, Arnaud Boissières and Ari Huusela to name but four alumni of the 2001 Mini Transat which Van Weybergh raced 20 years, he made good use of his time, raising his profile and that of the Vendée Globe with a weekly TV update every Sunday.

This week the Board of Directors of SAEM Vendée unanimously elected Alain Leboeuf as the new President of the Vendée Globe. The SAEM Vendée is a shared-stock company of mixed economy which organizes the Vendée Globe whose majority shareholder is the Department of the Vendée, 

 "What are you doing for the holidays? I’ll not be going away from home". Alexia Barrier is smiling. The sailor from the south of France who finished her Vendée Globe in 111 days is looking to take a little time off to relax this summer that is in between sailing, looking for partners and staying on the ball, in fact the same as many of the other skippers.