Lorient (AFP)

Famous single-handed race around the world, the Vendée Globe will start well in November, so to prepare for it a race in the form of a prologue has emerged, despite the crisis: the Vendée-Arctic, a physical route to the Arctic Circle.

The start will be given on Saturday at 3.30pm off the Sables d'Olonne (Vendée) for 20 skippers, all candidates for the Vendée Globe 2020. Most will launch out to gauge and test their boat, some will run to meet the Vendée qualification process Globe, which will leave on November 8 from Les Sables d'Olonne.

This race is a post-containment creation, making up for the cancellation of the two preparation races scheduled for May and June (The Transat and New-York Vendée), and responding to strict health security measures.

No festivity, no audience. The skippers all left their home port before 2 p.m. on Friday to reach the sea. They were tested at Covid-19 before boarding. They will remain at sea until departure, Saturday afternoon.

"It's a weird start to the race, that's how it is," said Yannick Bestaven (Maître-CoQ).

"We don't have the classic ritual, usually there is the conveying, the briefing, the signing of the autographs, the interviews. There there is no usual routine, (we don't feel) that something We are aware, but I almost have the impression that I do not realize that this race is coming. It is quite surprising ", notes Charlie Dalin (Apivia), hired for his very first solo race in Imoca (the 18 m monohulls, stars of the Vendée Globe).

- 'Curling the ice' -

Once gone, Dalin should savor this very atypical race by its course: a loop in North Atlantic of 3.556 nautical miles (6.585 km), which will first take the fleet as close to the Arctic circle, near Iceland, for descend to the Azores and return to Vendée. The winner is expected after 10 days of racing.

"The objective is to challenge sailors and boats so that they are as up to the challenge of the Vendée Globe as possible," explains Antoine Mermod, president of the Imoca class organizing the race.

"The advantage of going north is that we go in the cold and work in the cold is important. A key moment in the Vendée Globe is when they arrive in the South Atlantic, they go from (the anticyclone of) Saint Helena to the cold. It's a difficult moment of transition for skippers to understand. "

Isabelle Joschke (MACSF), who absolutely must finish this race to complete her qualification, is delighted with the journey that awaits her.

"What I love about this arctic coat is going to places where it is very cold. We will curl the ice north as we will curl the ice south during the Vendée Globe", she rejoices.

For his part, race director Jacques Caraës, who officiates on the Vendée Globe, is quite satisfied.

"It’s going to be an interesting triangular course which should allow the riders to touch all gaits, downwind, headwind, crosswind. It is a physical preparation for them, but also for the boat, because there will be a lot winds, "he argues.

"As it is the only race, it should not be too simple and especially not in too weak winds. We cannot launch a Vendée Globe without preparing our sailors, it would not be at all safe. circuit upstream of the Vendée Globe is essential ", assures Caraës.

© 2020 AFP