In mid-May, the Vendee Globe race council announced that the 25,000-nm competition was still slated to go ahead in 2020, with a planned Nov. 8 start. The solo nonstop race will start from and return to Les Sables d’Olonne in France.
Race organizers have pushed back the final date for potential competitors to register to Sept. 1 and have worked to devise a new preparatory race, as the original prep race had been scheduled for June 1.
“In agreement with the Vendée Department, the headline partner for the event, the IMOCA class proposed a race starting from off Les Sables d’Olonne on July 4,” race organizers stated in a press release.
“This will be a solo race taking the sailors up past Iceland and into the Arctic Circle, and then down to the Azores with a return to the start location planned around 10 days later. The race format has been completely reviewed by the race directors and the organizing team in order to respect distancing rules concerning the skippers and their teams.”
