A record 44 skippers have applied for the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe race — a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe that takes place every four years and is due to begin in November 2024.

Organisers have hailed the applications as the most diverse lineup of captains to date.

There are 18 newcomers, including the youngest skipper, Violette Dorange, who is 22. Dorange is due to compete in her first round-the-world race aboard the boat on which Jean LeCam completed the 2020 Vendée Globe.

King Jean, the emblematic face and oldest skipper in the race, should be lining up at the start for the sixth time, on his brand new IMOCA with straight daggerboards, which has just been launched.

Among the six female candidates — a joint all-time high, alongside the 2020 edition — are Sam Davies, Justine Mettraux and Clarisse Crémer.

Clarisse Cremer

French sailor Crémer (left), who was shockingly dropped by sponsor Banque Populaire after having a child, is returning to sailing with a new team and a new sponsor to pursue her Vendée Globe 2024 ambitions.

 

Damien Seguin, the first disabled skipper to complete a Vendée Globe in 2020-2021, should be back alongside Jingkun Xu, a young Chinese skipper with an arm amputation.

An international race

Organisers of the Vendée Globe say applications have been coming in from all corners of the globe. The candidates include 16 international skippers, representing over a third of the entries, compared with 12 in 2020. In addition, the 11 nationalities represented are spread across four continents.

Sailors increasingly committed

From social action to environmental protection and medical research, the Vendée Globe is an opportunity for more and more skippers to use their achievements to support causes that are close to their hearts.

There are more than 30 causes supported by the sailors. Some, like Tanguy Le Turquais with Lazare or Manuel Cousin with Coup de Pouce, have named their boat after the charity they support, to give them maximum visibility. Others are taking a different approach, like Thomas Ruyant and Sam Goodchild, who are sailing under the common banner of the “We sail for people and planet” collective.

The Initiatives-Coeur project with skipper Sam Davies enables children with heart malformations to be operated in France when this is impossible in their own country. Their ambition is to save 500 children by the end of the next Vendée Globe.

French skipper Jeremie Beyou aboard Charal. Photo by Loic Venance/AFP)

French skipper Jeremie Beyou aboard Charal. Photo by Loic Venance/AFP)

40 places at the start

For the 2020 edition, 37 skippers applied. In the end, only 33 took part in the race.

The confirmation of which 40 competitors will set sail on 10 November 2024 comes after the final qualifying and selection race: the New York Vendée – Les Sables d’Olonne, which will start from the United States on 29 May 2024.

“I’m delighted with the diversity of the applications for the 2024 edition,” says Alain Leboeuf, president of the Vendée Globe.

“Once again, we will be welcoming sailors with extraordinary backgrounds and personalities from all over the world, ready to take on the immensity of the oceans and make their dreams come true. The growing number of entries from international skippers demonstrates the global reach of our race and shows just how much it inspires people beyond their borders. It is this human diversity that makes the Vendée Globe such an extraordinary adventure.”

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