In exactly one year to the day, on Saturday 10th November 2012, the 7th Vendée Globe will start from Les Sables d’Olonne. This will be the second non-stop solo race around the world without assistance for Safran and Marc Guillemot. The skipper has so far been pleased with the performance of his machine in the Transat Jacques Vabre…
“The Vendée Globe? I don’t think about it every day as I shave, but it is bound to be my priority when I finish this Transat Jacques Vabre. That will be the only thing on my mind.” Marc Guillemot is quite prepared to add a touch of humour from mid-Atlantic as he races in the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre with Yann Eliès. In exactly one year from now, Marc will be setting sail alone at the helm of Safran to attempt to get an even better result than in the last edition of the race. In any case he would like to get on the podium for the second time in a row in what is the most hotly contested solo race.
Thirteen boats already registered
The competition is bound to be tough. For the moment, thirteen boats have registered including Safran, but the race organisers believes that between 15 and 20 sailors will be there at the start. Among them, Vincent Riou (PRB), winner of the 2004-2005 race and Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire), who came second in 2009, will be on boats from the latest generation. That will also be the case for François Gabart (Macif), Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat), Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec) and Javier Sanso (Acciona). The other competitors already registered are Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas), Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud), Alessandro di Benedetto (Team Plastique), Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) and Mike Golding (Gamesa). Seven Frenchmen, one Spaniard, one Italian, two Swiss sailors and two Englishmen… Nine of them are rivals in this Transat Jacques Vabre to Safran, or were before being forced to retire.
“I have a reliable boat”
Initial verdict after a week of racing? “As far as the boat is concerned, I’m feeling pretty relaxed about the choices that were made with Safran, the designers and my team to improve the boat and make her more reliable. There are still a few details to sort out for the boat to be in perfect shape in a year’s time. One thing for sure is that I have a boat that is even more reliable, which means I can feel more relaxed and more at ease as we prepare the boat than I did three years ago,” summed up Marc Guillemot, who added in conclusion: “In this Transat Jacques Vabre, we have been experiencing tricky conditions and it’s true that it’s reassuring to see that Safran has withstood the pounding. And she’s certainly been through it! Another positive point is that the choice of sails seems to have worked out well. All of that is very promising.”