News
4.26.24
François Guiffant – a solo sailor waiting for his ticket to the Vendée Globe
One thing that can be said with certainty about François Guiffant is that he knows the IMOCA game and its boats as well as anyone.
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| Coefficient | 4 |
|---|
| Format | Singlehanded |
|---|---|
| Distance | 3 500 milles (6 482 km) |
| Race track | Lorient - New-York |
| Race director | Francis Le Goff |
| Organizer | OC Sport |
| IMOCA reference time | Armel Le Cléac'h, Banque Populaire VIII, 2016, 12j 2h 28m 39s |
The oldest of the singlehanded races, The Transat (formerly OSTAR) was created in 1960 from a bet between a handful of British sailors to find out if they were capable of crossing the Atlantic singlehanded. Despite 50 registration requests, only five sailors took the start from Plymouth, including one Sir Francis Chichester, who triumphed after 40 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes at sea. The legend was born.
The greatest names in ocean racing will associate their name with it: Éric Tabarly, Alain Colas, Philippe Poupon and Loïck Peyron, the only sailor to have won it three times.
Armel Le Cléac'h won in 2016, when he set a reference time of 12 days, 2 hours, 28 minutes and 39 seconds on board his VPLP-Verdier Banque Populaire VIII, before winning the Vendée Globe a few months later.
In 2020, as The Transat CIC was preparing to celebrate its 60th anniversary, the pandemic forced OC Sport Pen Duick, the organising company, the CIC, the Title Partner, and all of the event's institutional and private supporters, to cancel the event a few weeks before the start. The next edition of the event was due to take place four years later. To write this new chapter, Lorient will be the starting point for the race in 2024 and also in 2028, as the city has committed itself to two editions.
Paul MEILHAT
Louis BURTON
Jérémie BEYOU
Denis VAN WEYNBERGH
Violette DORANGE
Kojiro SHIRAISHI
Louis DUC
Sébastien MARSSET
Guirec SOUDÉE
James HARAYDA
Damien SEGUIN
Sébastien SIMON
Nicolas LUNVEN
Alan ROURA
Antoine CORNIC
Sam DAVIES
Clarisse CRÉMER
Arnaud BOISSIÈRES
Tanguy LE TURQUAIS
Charlie DALIN
Isabelle JOSCHKE
Boris HERRMANN
Yannick BESTAVEN
Benjamin FERRÉ
Fabrice AMEDEO
Oliver HEER
Yoann RICHOMME
François GUIFFANT
Giancarlo PEDOTE
Eric BELLION
Justine METTRAUX
Jean LE CAM
Maxime SOREL
One thing that can be said with certainty about François Guiffant is that he knows the IMOCA game and its boats as well as anyone.
•••Awareness and progress towards finding solutions to the problem of boats hitting marine mammals at sea is growing, according to Claire Vayer, Sustainability Manager at IMOCA.
•••Once again La Base marina in Lorient, Brittany – the main home of the IMOCA fleet – is a hive of activity as 33 boats and their skippers prepare for the daunting challenge of the North Atlantic alone.
•••For Éric Bellion The Transat CIC, which starts from Lorient bound for New York on Sunday, is a huge moment in his journey to this year’s Vendée Globe.
•••This week, we boarded the IMOCA Initiatives-Cœur with Sam Davies for a 24-hour training session. The objective was to sail in a fleet, alongside the Pôle Finistère Course au Large, and to familiarize ourselves with solo …
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