INTO BATTLE

COULD THIS BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE VENDÉE GLOBE EVER? HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT WHAT THE SKIPPERS WILL BE FACING.

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"When you think about the Vendée Globe, you always remember the good stuff. I've done three now, and you remember the good bits of all the races. So it seems like the race is condensed into a really short length of time. But once you get out there, that's when it hits..." says Initiatives-Coeur skipper Sam Davies.

"The hard thing is when you realise just how long it is and how you've got to survive in those conditions." The Vendée Globe can be a powerful drug. For some skippers it's an experience so transformative it draws them back again and again. For first-timers it's a daunting prospect: can they endure three brutal months? Will they even be the same person afterwards? More sailors than ever will pit themselves against the physical, mental, elemental and technical challenges of sailing alone around the world when a record fleet of 40 IMOCAS starts the Vendée Globe's 10th running on 10 November.

It is the longest race course in sport: from Les Sables d'Olonne in France, and back, around the world non-stop without assistance. Technically they are racing for €200,000 - the 1st place prize money. But in reality they are racing for a place in history.

HIGHS AND LOWS

Charlie Dalin nearly took his place in the history books, having been first to finish in 2021 on Apivia in his debut Vendée Globe, before Yannick Bestaven was crowned winner after redress was calculated for the skippers who assisted in rescuing Kevin Escoffier. For Dalin, the Vendée is truly unfinished business.