Vendée Globe – The Ultimate Solo Round-the-World Sailing Race
The Vendée Globe is a solo, non-stop, unassisted yacht race around the world and is widely regarded as one of the toughest challenges in sailing.
Held every four years, the race starts and finishes at Les Sables-d’Olonne on the Atlantic coast of France. From there, competitors sail south through the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Southern Ocean, before rounding Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn and racing north through the Atlantic back to France.
It sounds simple enough: one sailor, one boat and one lap of the planet. The reality is anything but.
From the Golden Globe to the Vendée Globe
The origins of the Vendée Globe can be traced back to the 1968–69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first solo, non-stop round-the-world yacht race.
Nine sailors set out, but only one completed the challenge. British sailor Robin Knox-Johnston returned aboard his 32-foot yacht Suhaili after 312 days at sea, becoming the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world.
Twenty years later, French sailor Philippe Jeantot developed the idea into a new race. The first Vendée Globe started from Les Sables-d’Olonne in 1989 and established the format that continues today: solo, non-stop and around the world without outside assistance.
Interestingly, the Golden Globe Race itself was revived in 2018, but rather than following the Vendée Globe towards ever faster boats and increasingly sophisticated technology, it deliberately went in the opposite direction.
The modern Golden Globe recreates the spirit of 1968, with competitors sailing traditional-style production yachts and navigating with sextants and paper charts rather than GPS. Electronic navigation equipment and autopilots are prohibited and communication with the outside world is severely restricted.
The result is two very different versions of essentially the same extraordinary challenge. The Vendée Globe represents the cutting edge of solo ocean racing, while the Golden Globe deliberately strips much of that technology away, placing the emphasis on traditional seamanship, self-reliance and endurance.
The Vendée Globe Route
The theoretical course is approximately 24,000 nautical miles, although the distance actually sailed can be considerably greater.
After leaving Les Sables-d’Olonne, the fleet heads south through the Atlantic. The sailors cross the Equator and continue towards the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa.
From there they enter the Southern Ocean and race eastwards around Antarctica, passing Cape Leeuwin in Australia before eventually reaching Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.
Rounding Cape Horn is a major milestone. After weeks in the Southern Ocean, the competitors finally turn north and begin the long race back up the Atlantic to Les Sables-d’Olonne.
The route takes the sailors through wildly different conditions, from the light and unpredictable winds of the Doldrums to huge seas, freezing temperatures and powerful storms in the Southern Ocean.
Why Is the Vendée Globe So Difficult?
Few sporting events combine physical endurance, isolation, sleep deprivation, technical skill and exposure to extreme weather quite like the Vendée Globe.
The sailors can spend more than two months alone at sea. Normal sleep is virtually impossible and skippers generally sleep for short periods while continually monitoring their yacht, the weather and surrounding shipping.
Then there is the boat itself.
Equipment failures are common during a round-the-world race and can end a competitor’s Vendée Globe in an instant. Skippers may have to repair sails, rigging, electronics and other equipment themselves, sometimes in enormous seas and thousands of miles from land.
Historically, a significant proportion of the fleet has failed to finish. Masts have broken, boats have capsized, keels and foils have been damaged and competitors have been forced to retire through injury or equipment failure.
The IMOCA 60 Yachts
The Vendée Globe is raced in IMOCA 60s, 60-foot high-performance monohull yachts designed for ocean racing.
Modern IMOCA yachts are extraordinarily fast. They can sustain speeds of more than 20 knots and today’s leading boats use foils to reduce drag and increase performance.
Foiling yachts made their Vendée Globe debut in the 2016–17 race. The curved appendages projecting from the hull generate lift as the yacht accelerates, allowing part of the boat to rise and reducing the amount of hull travelling through the water.
The technology has developed enormously since then and foils are now one of the defining features of the latest generation of IMOCA yachts.
Yet however sophisticated the boat becomes, there is still only one sailor aboard to keep it racing.
An Increasingly International Race
The Vendée Globe was created in France and has an enormous following there. French sailors have dominated the race throughout its history, and France has produced many of its greatest competitors.
Among them is Michel Desjoyeaux, who remains the only skipper to have won the Vendée Globe twice, taking victory in both 2000–01 and 2008–09.
Over the years, however, the Vendée Globe has attracted an increasingly international field. The 2024–25 edition saw a record 40 skippers representing 11 countries set off from Les Sables-d’Olonne.
British sailors have played a particularly prominent role among the international competitors. Ellen MacArthur became one of the best-known sailors of her generation after finishing second in the 2000–01 Vendée Globe at just 24 years old. Other British competitors have included Mike Golding, Samantha Davies, Pip Hare and Alex Thomson.
Thomson came remarkably close to becoming the first non-French winner in the 2016–17 Vendée Globe. Sailing Hugo Boss, he lost his starboard foil after striking an unidentified object but remained in contention for victory. He eventually finished second behind French skipper Armel Le Cléac’h, completing the race in 74 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes.
Competitors from countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand and China have also taken on the race, helping to transform what was once an overwhelmingly French event into a truly international sailing challenge.
Women in the Vendée Globe
Women have been part of the Vendée Globe almost from its earliest years.
Catherine Chabaud became the first woman to complete the Vendée Globe in 1997, while Ellen MacArthur’s second-place finish in 2001 remains one of the most famous results in the history of the race.
Sailors including Isabelle Autissier, Samantha Davies, Clarisse Crémer and Pip Hare have subsequently competed.
Six women were among the record 40 skippers who started the 2024–25 race.
How Fast Is the Vendée Globe?
One of the clearest demonstrations of how the race has changed is the time it takes to sail around the world.
Michel Desjoyeaux won the 2008–09 Vendée Globe in just over 84 days.
By 2016–17, Armel Le Cléac’h had reduced the winning time to a little over 74 days.
Then, in the 2024–25 race, Charlie Dalin took victory and set a new Vendée Globe record, completing his circumnavigation in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds.
That is almost 20 days faster than Desjoyeaux’s winning time just four editions earlier.
The Vendée Globe and the Environment
Few people experience the world’s oceans quite as directly as Vendée Globe sailors.
During their circumnavigation, they travel through some of the most remote waters on Earth, including the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.
Environmental research and ocean conservation have therefore become increasingly associated with the event. Some competitors carry scientific instruments or collect data during their voyage, while teams and skippers use the enormous international audience generated by the race to raise awareness of ocean and environmental issues.
Following the Vendée Globe
One of the reasons the Vendée Globe has become so compelling is that spectators can follow the sailors throughout their journey.
Online race trackers allow followers to see the position, speed and direction of the yachts as they race around the planet, while videos and messages sent back from the boats provide a glimpse of life aboard.
The start and finish at Les Sables-d’Olonne are major events in their own right, attracting huge crowds to welcome the skippers as they leave and, months later, return.
For sailors and sailing enthusiasts, following the tracker can become rather addictive. Go to the official Vendee Globe site to find the tracker during the race.
When Is the Next Vendée Globe?
The Vendée Globe takes place every four years and the next race is scheduled to start from Les Sables-d’Olonne on 12 November 2028.
Before then, prospective competitors face years of preparation, qualification, fundraising and racing as they work towards earning a place on the start line.
Then it begins again: one sailor, one yacht and around 24,000 nautical miles of ocean ahead.
Meet Other Sailors on Lovesail
You don’t need to sail single-handed around the world to find your next sailing adventure.
Lovesail is a global dating and social networking site for sailing and boating enthusiasts. Members use the site to meet other sailors for dating, friendship and crewing opportunities.
Whether you’re an experienced sailor, looking for crew or simply hoping to meet someone who shares your love of being on the water, you can create a profile and see who’s aboard.
Image Courtesy of Raphael Toussaint
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