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Five contenders for the next Vendee Globe have been training since Monday at the French training centre in Port-la-Forêt in S.W. Brittany. Present were Sam Davies (Roxy), Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), Armel Le Cleac´h (Brit Air), Yann Elies (Generali) and Vincent Riou (PRB). They have been going through some sessions in single-handed manoeuvre training around the Glenan Islands.

* The young skipper and designer from Normandy, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty has become the seventeenth person to register officially for the Vendee Globe. His monohull, Maisonneuve, is currently undergoing a winter refit, which should finish shortly in Lorient, with the help of the round the world yachtsman, Herve Laurent. Jean-Baptiste will just be thirty years old this year.

* This week, Yann Elies completed his qualifying passage for The Artemis Transat, which is due to begin in Plymouth on 11th May. Setting sail from his base in Lorient, the large red and white monohull sailed the 300 miles required by the IMOCA class and the race organiser, following the fitting of a new mast this winter.

Yann Elies: “The main focus of attention during this trip was, of course, the new mast. After a bit of trial and error, we found the right adjustment and the reaction from the boat was immediate. Generali really takes off more quickly, and she already seems much keener. The long leg reaching also proved to be very useful to appreciate the boat’s light weight. In 15 to 20 knot winds, we constantly hovered between 20 and 22 knots, on seas that were very easy to handle.” Feeling pleased about his new steering system, Yann also expressed his satisfaction about the interior fittings: “The return from the Gironde Estuary to Groix was upwind sailing and I was able to appreciate the great protection offered by the sliding roof, as well as the clear, wide view I had. The new set of sails with an extended square top, will need to be tested in light airs.” Now that he has qualified, Yann Elies will be continuing his preparation programme. The training session that is due to take place from Monday at the Port la Forêt training centre will see a certain number of the top Imoca boats battle it out outside of the framework of a competition. It will be interesting to see how the different boats behave after the long winter break.

www.vendeeglobe.org

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 10:36 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.