There are 40 boats – and 40 skippers – in the race. set sail from Les Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée) on Sunday.. All are driven by a single obsession: to finish, in the best possible position, this new edition of the Vendée Globe, the “Everest of the seas”, as some like to call it, this non-stop, non-assisted, single-handed round-the-world race with the same monohull formats for all competitors. “ A mythical race, much more than a competition, for nearly three months, a human adventure, a challenge for heroes “sums up Magali Tézenas du Montcel, Managing Director of Sporsora, an association of key players in the sports ecosystem.

Forty boats and many companies at their side, because the sailors, most of whom run racing stables employing several people, need sponsors to support them on a day-to-day basis. Building a monohull costs between 4 and 8 million euros…