TWENTY SKIPPERS AND THE BEST PARTICIPANTS LIST EVER AT THE START OF THE 7 TH VENDEE GLOBE: THE LEGEND LIVES ON!

Vendee Globe
Vendee Globe

TWENTY SKIPPERS AND THE BEST PARTICIPANTS LIST EVER AT THE STARTOF THE 7TH VENDEE GLOBE: THE LEGEND LIVES ON!

Twenty yachtsmen will be at the start of the 7 th edition of the Vendée
Globe on November 10 in Les Sables d’Olonne. The final entrants list
has been unveiled today at Paris’ Maison de la Mutualité by Vendée
General Council President Bruno Retailleau. The list includes Zbigniew
Gutkowski, the last entrant and the first Polish skipper to take up the
single-handed non-stop round-the-world challenge without any
assistance.

The 2012-2013 Vendée Globe passes with  honors! With less than 50 days to go until the  world’s greatest solo yachting race starts, the  names of the twenty candidates* for Michel  Desjoyeaux’s succession have been officially
announced on Wednesday. Twenty is a perfect  number, one that is actually exceptional given  the current economic context, and consistent  with the average number of Vendée Globe  competitors in the previous six editions.

« This year, the Vendée is bringing a truly exceptional crew on board, enthusiastically  explains Bruno Retailleau. Up-and-coming sailors of the new generation will do their  best to vie with older master mariners in a sea battle between traditional and modern  yachtsmen that promises epic fights » This exceptionally international fleet (featuring  sailors of six different nationalities) is strengthened by Poland’s Zbigniew Gutkowski. As the last skipper to register, Zbigniew « Gutek » Gutkowski, 39 and supported by  electricity producer and operator ENERGA, has become the first Pole to compete in the  Vendée Globe. He had also been the first Polish skipper to single-handedly sail around  the world and finished second of last year’s Velux 5 Oceans race. His peers voted him  Polish Yachtsman of the year. « I’m very proud to be part of this adventure and  finishing under 100 days would make me really happy », said « Gutek ».
Before coming to the Village in Les Sables d’Olonne, starting on October 20, and
finding out more about the twenty skippers, sailing enthusiasts can already follow the  skippers’ preparation as they enter the home stretch by visiting the new Vendée Globe website as well as the race’s social networks. It should help them wait until the release of the official book (October 17), the comic book (October 19), the film « En Solitaire » (fall of 2013) and the 2012 Vendée Globe application, available on  November 1 on iPhone / iPad and Android / Tablet through the Apple Store and the Google Play Store… « Millions of fans will be able to follow the race without missing a  single thing, emphasises Bruno Retailleau. A larger Village featuring more fun and  educational activities, on board cameras to share the skippers’ daily lives in real time,  a great social network effort, images broadcast in 170 countries… With 3D and 2.0,  the latest technologies are more than ever contributing to the development of the  human side of the adventure. »

* 20 skippers at the start: Jérémie BEYOU (FRA/Maître CoQ), Arnaud BOISSIERES (FRA/AKENA Vérandas), Louis BURTON (FRA/Bureau Vallée), Samantha DAVIES (GBR/Savéol), Bertrand DE BROC (FRA/Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets), Tanguy DE LAMOTTE (FRA/Initiatives-coeur), Kito DE PAVANT (FRA/Groupe Bel), Alessandro  DI BENEDETTO (FRA-ITA, Team Plastique), Jean-Pierre DICK (FRA/Virbac-Paprec 3),
François GABART (FRA/MACIF), Mike GOLDING (GBR/Gamesa), Marc GUILLEMOT (FRA/Safran), Zbigniew GUTKOWSKI (POL/ENERGA), Jean LE CAM (FRA/SynerCiel), Armel  LE CLEAC’H (FRA/Banque Populaire), Vincent RIOU (FRA/PRB), Javier SANSO (ESP/ACCIONA  100% EcoPowered), Bernard STAMM (SUI/Cheminées Poujoulat), Alex THOMSON
(GBR/HUGO BOSS), Dominique WAVRE (SUI/Mirabaud).

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