Gitana 80 - Loïck Peyron

Three weeks into the Vendée Globe Race, and 25 boats remain from the fleet of thirty. Delta Dore officially joined the ranks of the bruised and battered when Jérémie Beyou resigned from the race with unrepairable damage.  The pack is tight, the winds have shifted, and the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe is nearing the Southern Oceans.  The first

Equatorial Atlantic - Two weeks in, and most boats in the Vendée Globe fleet have now crossed the 0° line, finding themselves solidly in the Southern Hemisphere.  Foulies have given way to swimsuits (or birthday suits), Neptune has been appeased with champagne and goodies, Winter is in the wake, and the South Atlantic awaits.

Eastern Atlantic - Amazing that it's only one week in, and nearly a third of the boats sailing in the Vendée Globe fleet have had to turn back.  Tough storm conditions and bleeding edge boats don't always mix well, and in the rush for last-minute preparations, some of the IMOCA Open 60's simply weren't ready.  Luckily, though some of the boats are in bad shape, the injuries reported were mostly in the form of bangs, bruises, wrenched muscles and tired backs.

Les Sables d'Olone, France - Around Alone:  Two words that every sailor understands to be the ultimate challenge.  To circumnavigate solo is so difficult that more people have traveled in outer space than have sailed non-stop around the world singlehanded, and far more have climbed Everest.  There is no greater test of a person and a boat, and those 30 sailors that set out today on the Vendée Globe race will be racing against themselves as much as each other.  As nearly every one of them we spoke to has said, they'll be l

As the Vendée Globe fast approaches, Loïck Peyron is preparing his 60 foot yacht Gitana 80 on the pontoons of Les Sables d'Olone for what will be her maiden voyage around the globe. Loïck is no stranger to circumnavigation; this will be his third time traversing the world by yacht, and his second participation in the Vendée Globe.

The racing fleet of IMOCA Open 60's made it back into the Loire Estuary this morning for the finish of the Record SNSM sailing race. The fleet was led by Gitana 80, which crossed the line at 0544:07GMT with an overall time of 1 day 12 hours 9 minutes and 7 seconds. YachtPal Loïck Peyron and his four crew – Cyril Dardashti, Antoine Mermod, Didier Le Vourc’h and Sébastien Thétiot – now add the Record SNSM to Gitana Eighty’s growing list of victories.

Brittany, France - The fourth edition of the Record SNSM started yesterday off the eastern jetty in the port of Saint Nazaire, on France’s Brittany coast in the Atlantic. A crewed yacht race from St. Nazaire to St. Malo and back, this sailing race is providing a fantastic spectacle, with a mix of amateur and professional sailors competing on high speed monohulls and multihulls. The fleet of Imoca monohulls include seven of the yachts which will be competing in the upcoming Vendée Globe this fall.

We spoke with Loïck Peyron today, fresh from his multi-record-making win of the Artemis Transat, where he has further secured his place as one of the top sailors in the world. If there's anyone with salt water in his veins, it's Loïck.

YachtPal Loïck Peyron has won the 2008 Artemis Transat Race aboard Gitana 80, and in doing so has set a new world record! This makes the deservedly revered "Jedi Master" the first skipper to have won three times, and he has raised the bar very high for all those who follow.

We could find no records of a race that was so affected by wildlife. As of last night, yet another boat (Sam Davies' Roxy) struck a whale: "I sailed into a whale - my starboard daggerboard took the shock and now I can only use half my daggerboard. Bit scarey! I was sitting at back of the boat fixing my mainsheed padeye and doing about 13 knots."