An extraordinary edition
"We had to be agile in our organisation in an unprecedented context. This edition of the Vendée Globe was out of the ordinary, even if each edition has its share of surprises. In this particular health context, the first victory was to have managed to get the start.
We had to reinvent the protocols, adapt the village, convince the authorities, set up sanitary protocols according to the places and periods and make a departure and arrivals behind closed doors or almost.
It's been tough for everyone, but also for the sports teams. And what we will remember about this edition is the level of the IMOCA fleet, which despite the context had a relatively high degree of preparation and which offered us an exceptional level of sport." explains Yves Auvinet, Chairman of SAEM Vendée.
A spectacular edition and records
Even if the race record was not broken in terms of days, this edition nevertheless broke some records:
- Record number of applications: 37
- Record participation: 33
- Record female participation: 6 women at the start
- 1 era participation of a skipper with a disability
- Record number of finishers: 25 boats on the finish line
- Lowest dropout rate: 24
- 8 arrivals in 24 hours
- Women's record for the event beaten: Clarisse Cremer in 87 d 2 h 24 min 25 s, 7 days better than Ellen MacArthur in 2001.
Few disparities between boat generations
"In spite of the succession of weather phenomena that have surely erased the differences between the different generations of boats, the latest generation of foilers were eagerly awaited. They still showed their effectiveness, particularly with the arrival of Charlie Dalin in first place and Thomas Ruyant, 4th despite their port foil quickly becoming unusable.
It is only a matter of time before these new boats become reliable, even if some have given up, such as Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), Sébastien Simon (Arkéa Paprec) and Nicolas Troussel (Corum l'Épargne).
The Vendée Globe, which has just finished, will give the designers some good feedback for the future of these boats.
The older generation boats have proved that they have sailed very well and that they have excellent preparation. In the Vendée Globe, there is room for projects that are both well endowed and less so, but that are still very reliable. Some of them have been at the head of the race, including some of the older generation foilers.
The performance of Yannick Bestaven (Maitre Coq), winner of the race, the 3 e place for Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) and 4th place for Jean Le Cam. Boris Herrmann would probably have made the podium if he had not come across a fishing boat. We should also salute the performance of Damien Seguin (Groupe Apicil), the first skipper with a disability in the history of the race, who had a great Vendée Globe with a 7th place.
The line-up was dense and showed its full potential, with a diversity of sporting projects and skippers." explains Yves Auvinet.
Top 10 figures
- Latest generation foilers: 2
- Older generation foilers : 4
- Straight drifts: 4
- Newbies: Charlie Dalin, Damien Seguin, Benjamin Dutreux, Maxime Sorel, Giancarlo Pedote, Boris Herrmann
- 1 participation in the Vendée Globe: Yannick Bestaven, Thomas Ruyant,
- 2 participations in the Vendée Globe : Louis Burton
- 4 participations in the Vendée Globe : Jean Le Cam
A rescue that changed the standings
"This edition will have been marked by the rescue of Kevin Escoffier, who thanks to the assistance of 4 skippers - Yannick Bestaven, Sébastien Simon, Jean Le Cam and Boris Herrmann - was saved. This incident of course played a role in the final ranking and contributed to a huge final outcome, with 8 skippers finishing in 24 hours. It showed the evidence of the help and solidarity that each and every one owes to the others, both at sea and on land."
International skippers
- Boris Herrmann, 4th and first German to complete the Vendée Globe
- Giancarlo Pedote, Italian and 8th in the Vendée Globe
- Kojiro Shiraishi, 16th and first Asian skipper to complete a Vendée Globe
- Ari Huusela, 25th and first Nordic and Finnish sailor to finish the race.
The figures of the village
- 16 million of euros in the race organization budget
- 200?000 visitors in 13 days, from October 17 to 29, 2020, the date of the 2nd national lockdown (vs 680,000 in two weeks in 2016-
- 15?000 visitors per day with a capacity of 5,000 people at the same time
- Filling rate of 98 % for visits of less than 3 hours on average
- 97 % of visitors were satisfied with the e-ticketing service
- 60 % of visitors came from departments other than the Vendée
- 285 volunteers helped in the village
A growing communications balance sheet
Is it the context that has made this 9th edition of the Vendée Globe such a media event? It has to be said that it is one of the only sailing races that has been able to take place and one of the few sporting events overall... A way for the public to get away from it all, if we are to believe the organisation's figures
- 11?000?000 unique visitors to the Vendée Globe website and apps, i.e. +1.3 million compared to 2016.
- 115?600?000 visits, i.e. + 33% compared to 2016.
- 452?000?000 page views, up 32% from 2016.
- 4,25 minutes per session, i.e. +24%
- + 135 % of participation on Virtual Regatta
- 115 million videos viewed in total, compared to 71 million in 2016
- 20 million views of Vendée Globe broadcasts compared to 13 million in 2016
- 985?000 fans, i.e. + 135%
Media review
"The coverage and media fallout has been exceptional despite Covid and the US elections. The Vendée Globe took pride of place with an ever increasing amount of coverage. 190 countries covered the event on all five continents, 118 channels broadcast the race (+22%), including 67 free channels. 41 channels broadcast the start live and 38 the finish. The coverage in France was exceptional" explains Yves Auvinet.
- 193?000 stories across all media, up 329%
- 269 million of advertising equivalent
- 4.28 billion of contacts reached
- 66,7 % of French people followed the Vendée Globe (vs. 52% in 2016): +14.7
- According to a Nielsen study, 95,6 % of French people know about the Vendée Globe (vs. 87% in 2016): +8.6 points.
Internationally
- 49,000 subjects all media (UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland)
- 63 million of advertising equivalent
- 1.35 billion contacts reached
- The Vendée Globe website recorded a 6% increase in international visitors
