Four years ago, Clarisse Cremer FRA took part in the Vendée Globe for the first time as a high-flyer and finished the race in 13th place, setting the women's round-the-world record (87 days 2 hours). As one of 6 women in the fleet, she wants to improve further, and with ‘Occitane en Provence’, she has a 2nd generation foiling IMOCA at her disposal. ----- A Portrait with interview.

For his second participation, Boris Herrmann GER is one of the favourites. Four years ago, he sailed for victory right to the end and finished the race in 5th place. This summer, he finished in 2nd place twice in the two preparation transatlantic races. He is responsible for a big sailing hype in Germany. On 17 November, one week after the start, German TV channel ARD will be showing the documentary . On his website there are numerous reports on his preparations.

The 69-year-old Jean Le Cam FRA is taking part for the 6th time! He has completed the race five times, always finishing at the front of the field, best result was a second place in his first participation in 2002. For this year's race, he had a new Open 60 built - without foils, which offer speed advantages in many conditions, but are also more susceptible to accidents. The Interview.

Tonight at 9 pm, the France 2 TV channel will be showing the film ‘Seul’, which tells the adventurous story of Yves Parlier FRA on the occasion of the Vendée Globe 2000. In the lead, Parlier broke his mast in the South Pacific. In a bay in Southern Australia, he repaired the mast (35 meters!) and reinstalled it without outside help! He then continued the race and reached the finish line 2 months behind schedule. To be able to feed himself without outside help, he collected seaweed and mussels, his menu for the rest of the race. The film should also be available on the France 2 website.

The start of the single-handed round-the-world race will take place in Les Sables d'Olonne in a week's time today - the first wind forecasts are predicting flat conditions. The harbour of Les Sables d'Olonne is still very busy - here are the news and interviews.

Violette Dorange FRA, the youngest ever Vendée participant at the age of 23, began her offshore career in the Optimist eight years ago by crossing the English Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar with her Optimist! She then switched to the 420, where she shone in 2016-2018 with three podium finishes at the Junior World Championships. In 2018, she finished 16th at the 2018 Mini-Transat, and then changed to the Figaro 3 single-handed class for 3 seasons. With Jean Le Cam FRA's Open 60, she is now taking part in the Vendée Globe for the first time and is already one of the favorites among the conventional Open 60s without foils. ----- The report.

There is still a lot going on both in the Race Village in Les Sables d'Olonnes - here is the daily program for today - and on the event website ! Among other topics is an interview with Oliver Heer SUI.

The Race Village in Les Sables d'Olonne has been open since Saturday and is already a hive of activity. Numerous attractions - here is today's program - and direct contacts with the skippers, who are making their final preparations, make a visit very attractive. 500,000 spectators are expected for the starting day. There are numerous portraits of the participants on the website (and in most international sailing media) - here is an interesting interview with Justine Mettraux SUI. There are live interviews every day at 12.30pm, yesterday it was the turn of Samantha Davis GBR and Alan Roura SUI. The event website.

The Vendée Globe Race Village opened in Les Sables d'Olonne on Saturday in the rain but with numerous visitors already in attendance - numerous attractions await visitors every day, from a tour of an Open 60 to a ‘Degustation Culinaire’. ----- The event website also features portraits of the participants, including Antoine Cornic FRA, who had to abandon his first Vendée Globe campaign in 2004 due to a lack of funding, then ran a restaurant on the Ile du Ré for 20 years and is now realizing his dream. He is at the start with the oldest Open 60, his goal is to arrive! The report.