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.
