A trip around the world alone, without stopovers and without assistance. The concept of the Vendée Globe, which will start on Sunday November 10 from Les Sables-d'Olonne, is simple. However, the skippers will have to respect very specific rules if they want to officially complete their world tour.
Alone and without assistance
The golden rule of the Vendée Globe is to fend for yourself. The skippers must set off from Les Sables-d'Olonne for around two and a half months of journey, alone on board their boat. Although they can be in contact with their teams during the race, they cannot get help from anyone and must fend for themselves. The only notable exception was the help of another competitor. If Jean Le Cam had rescued Kévin Escoffier during the previous edition, the 65-year-old skipper was himself rescued by Vincent Riou in 2009.
Weather routing is also strictly prohibited. Sailors must therefore establish their own trajectories. The only authorized stopover is a return to Les Sables-d'Olonne (necessarily very penalizing) within 10 days of departure.
Boats 18.28 m long
All the sailors ride on the same boats, Imoca (International Monohull Open Class Association), defined by a length of 18.28 m and 4.5 m in height. These true Formula 1 of the seas can reach 40 knots and are considered the most powerful sailboats in the world.
These monohulls must meet three criteria guaranteeing the safety of the skippers. In the event of an overturn, the sailboat must be able to right itself without external assistance, while interior partitioning must be guaranteed. In the event of a leak, the buoyancy of the boat must also be significant.
Please note that while all boats must meet the same criteria, not all are the same and are not equally efficient. The oldest of them are, for example, not equipped with foils and can therefore hardly compete with the most recent sailboats.
A route to respect
If the skippers must complete the tour of Antarctica before returning towards Les Sables-d'Olonne, they must respect specific crossing points, described in the official Vendée Globe rules. They must therefore bypass the Antarctic continent and its exclusion zone, leaving it to starboard (right). They then have the obligation to leave on their left (port side) the Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn.
To respond to the climate challenge and respect biodiversity, the organization set up biodiversity protection zones (ZPB) this year. Sailors will therefore be prohibited from crossing these zones and will, if necessary, correct their trajectories in order to avoid them.
A time barrier
In order to limit the racing time, the organizers have set a time barrier. Skippers have until Friday March 7, 2025, at 8 a.m. to cross the finish line in Les Sables-d'Olonne. An adventure lasting almost four months. Remember that in 2017, Armel Le Cléac'h increased the race record to 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds.
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In order to respect the environment, skippers will also be prohibited from throwing their trash into the sea, with the exception of biodegradable waste. Their waste must therefore be kept on board until disembarkation in Les Sables-d'Olonne. A jury made up of five referees as well as a president of the race committee and a president of the technical committee will be responsible for the smooth running of this 10e Vendée Globe.
