The 2020–2021 Vendée Globe was a non-stop round the world yacht race for IMOCA 60 class yachts crewed by only one person. It was the ninth edition of the race, which started and finished in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. The race began on 8 November 2020, with the first finishers completing the course on 27 January 2021 with the 25th and final yacht to complete the race arrived on 5 March 2021.

Report With a record number of 33 starter and 25 finishers, there was also a record number of six female competitors. This race was exceptionally close with the first eight sailors separated by less than 24 hours and literally with 12 hours to go the winner was not determined. The reason for this was due to compression in the fleet caused by the weather systems in addition to the large number of competitive entries and some of the pre race favorites being among the non-finishers.

Media exposure The international media exposure reached an all-time high in part due to the event being able to proceed during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its naturally isolative nature. With social mobility limited and large sectors of nations work force not working the race filled a void while other sport competitions were cancelled. The main spectator negatives happened at a national level with the race village not getting the usual hundred of thousands of visitors. The hardest thing for the international sailors was who could welcome them at the race finish with close family unable to attend, there was also reduced spectators and the race organisers made sure all the French competitors entered the finishing port during daylight hours to avoid the curfew restrictions.

The international coverage was led by daily show broadcasts on YouTube, Daily Motion and Facebook with the English edition led by Andi Robertson. The openness of the skippers to media varied, with Pip Hare and Boris Herrmann engaging extensively with online broadcast. There was also increasing media participation with the French skippers in the race. In terms of openness even at the front of the fleet the intentions of some sailors were open while others hid both sail plans and the extent of damage to the other boats until after the race finish.

It had high-profile followers with French President Emmanuel Macron and the Prince of Monaco engaging in the race and its media.

Alongside the race for the fourth time a web based online routing game mirroring the race ran by Virtual Regatta this was the largest ever online sailing game with 1,000,000 unique users. It was won by French sailor Jean-Claude Goudon, whose user name was “tigrou26120,” finished in a time of 68 days, 22 hours, 16 minutes and 4 seconds.

Public interest The unique thing about the Vendee Globe is the characters involved due to the challenges. Sailors that waited to the last minute allowing them to secure sponsorship were Alexia Barrier, Ari Huusela and Pip Hare. Sailors had different objectives – from Ari Huusela on a lifetime adventure with the only aim to complete the race through to the long time challengers like Alex Thompson who had a win at all cost mentality.

Former winner Alain Gautier in post race explained how Benjamin Dutreux, Damien Seguin, Yannick Bestaven and Louis Burton were the few sailing their boats closest to their potential in terms of speed, but he also admired the approach of Boris Herrmann who had a more conservative approach.

Incidents PRB sinking and rescue On day 22 of the race, 's yacht, PRB, suddenly broke apart and sank in the Roaring Forties, 840 miles southwest of Cape Town. He was rescued by fellow competitor . He later described how the boat literally folded in half and he struggled to release the life raft due to the speed of the situation.

The sailors that were involved in the rescue were awarded time compensation by the International Jury for their assistance with the following (1) Jean Le Cam was awarded a 16hr 15min time compensation for rescuing Kevin Escoffier. (2) Boris Herrmann was awarded a 6hr time compensation for aiding in the rescue. (3) Yannick Bestaven was awarded a 10hr 15min time compensation for aiding in the rescue.

Hydrofoil damage The introduction of hydrofoils to the 2016 edition of the race lead to their largescale adoption amongst the fleet. There was intense discussion about the cost, efficiency, vulnerability, sea keeping effects and structural implication of the development. Certainly their efficiency was shown with both "L’Occitane En Provence" and "Charal" sailing through the fleet and the foiler finishing in the top 3 position winning the short drag race to the finish the weather systems created.

Both Thomas Ruyant and Charlie Dalin suffered hydrofoil issues that compromised their race. Boris Herrmann also suffered foil damage in his collision with a fishing boat although it could be argued the impact to the foils stopped the deck spreaders from breaking. The sinking of PRB and its links to foil is at present unknown but certainly the boat had undergone extensive modification to refit and Kevin described the way the boat accelerated before failing. Their benefits in a seaway was also questioned as was the ride given by semi foiling nature with sailors saying the fully retractable foil configuration had distinct advantages in extreme conditions.

Rudder damage On the third day Jérémie Beyou onboard Charal returned to the start to repair a damaged rudder due to a collision with a floating object, he started again 9 days 2 h 50 min after the initial fleet start. Pip Hare on Medallia discovered cracks to her rudder stock and replaced the rudder with a spare near Cape Horn. Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss 7 retired with steering issues.

Collisions Boris Herrmann on Sea Explorer – Yacht Club De Monaco was 90 miles from the finish line when he hit a fishing boat causing extensive damage to the boat. Due to the proximity to the finish line he was able to finish the race. Sam Davies retired due to an impact with unidentified floating object.

Results

+ Classified results for the 2020–2021 edition Pos. Sail no. Boat name Year Skipper G Finish time Elapsed time Deltas Delta% Speed rhum/water Distancesailed Ref. 1 FRA 17 Maître Coq IV § 2015 M 2021-01-28 - 04:19:46 80d 03h 44m 46s Corrected80d 13h 59m 46s Elapsed 0% 12.67 / 14.86 28583.8 2 FRA 79 Apivia § 2019 M 2021-01-27 - 20:35:47 80d 06h 15m 47s 0d 02h 31m 01s 0.13% 12.65 / 15.13 29135 3 FRA 18 Bureau Vallée 2 § 2015 M 2021-01-28 - 00:45:12 80d 10h 25m 12s 0d 06h 40m 26s 0.35% 12.62 / 14.84 28650 4 FRA 001 Yes We Cam! 2007 M 2021-01-28 - 20:19:55 80d 13h 44m 55s Corrected 81d 05h 59m 55s Elapsed 0d 10h 00m 09s 0.52% 12.6 / 14.22 27501.5 5 MON 10 Sea Explorer – Yacht Club De Monaco § 2015 M 2021-01-28 - 11:19:45 80d 14h 59m 45s Corrected80d 20h 59m 45s Elapsed 0d 11h 14m 59s 0.58% 12.59 / 14.7 28448.5 6 FRA 59 Linkedout § 2019 M 2021-01-28 - 05:42:01 80d 15h 22m 01s 0d 11h 37m 15s 0.6% 12.59 / 15.07 29175.5 7 FRA 1000 Groupe Apicil 2008 M 2021-01-28 - 12:18:20 80d 21h 58m 20s 0d 18h 13m 34s 0.95% 12.55 / 14.17 27512.3 8 ITA 34 Prysmian Group § 2015 M 2021-01-28 - 13:02:20 80d 22h 42m 20s 0d 18h 57m 34s 0.99% 12.54 / 14.67 28489.9 9 FRA 09 Omia – Water Family 2007 M 2021-01-29 - 10:05:20 81d 19h 45m 20s 1d 16h 45m 34s 2.08% 12.41 / 14.17 27832.5 10 FRA 53 V and B – Mayenne 2007 M 2021-01-30 - 04:50:15 82d 14h 30m 15s 2d 10h 45m 29s 3.05% 12.29 / 13.79 27346.9 11 FRA 2 L’Occitane En Provence § 2020 M 2021-02-01 - 07:27:50 84d 17h 07m 50s 4d 13h 23m 04s 5.69% 11.98 / 13.93 28315.2 12 FRA 30 Banque Populaire X 2011 F 2021-02-03 - 16:44:25 87d 02h 24m 25s 6d 22h 39m 39s 8.66% 11.66 / 13.25 27697.1 13 FRA 8 Charal § 2018 M 2021-02-06 - 09:15:58 89d 18h 55m 58s 9d 15h 11m 12s 12.02% 11.31 / 13.8 29728.5 14 FRA 49 Pure – Best Western 2007 M 2021-02-06 - 17:06:02 90d 02h 46m 02s 9d 23h 01m 16s 12.42% 11.27 / 12.76 27597 15 FRA 14 La Mie Câline – Artisans Artipôle § 2007 M 2021-02-11 - 08:56:06 94d 18h 36m 06s 14d 14h 51m 20s 18.24% 10.71 / 12.51 28456.7 16 JPN 11 DMG Mori § 2019 M 2021-02-11 - 11:52:56 94d 21h 32m 56s 14d 17h 48m 10s 18.39% 10.7 / 12.76 29067.7 17 SUI 07 La Fabrique § 2007 M 2021-02-11 - 20:29:56 95d 06h 09m 56s 15d 02h 25m 10s 18.84% 10.66 / 12.51 28603.3 18 FRA 92 Time for Oceans § 2007 M 2021-02-11 - 22:36:00 95d 08h 16m 00s 15d 04h 31m 14s 18.95% 10.65 / 12.53 28663.5 19 GBR 77 Medallia 2000 F 2021-02-12 - 01:57:30 95d 11h 37m 30s 15d 07h 52m 44s 19.12% 10.63 / 12.21 27976.9 20 ESP 33 One Planet One Ocean 2000 M 2021-02-13 - 20:47:03 97d 06h 27m 03s 17d 02h 42m 17s 21.35% 10.44 / 12.07 28172.7 21 FRA Compagnie Du Lit / Jiliti 2006 M 2021-02-16 - 10:28:31 99d 20h 08m 31s 19d 16h 23m 45s 24.56% 10.17 / 11.74 28137.8 22 FRA 50 Campagne De France 2006 F 2021-02-17 - 23:16:51 101d 08h 56m 51s 21d 05h 12m 05s 26.47% 10.01 / 11.37 27656.2 23 FRA 71 Groupe Sétin 2007 M 2021-02-20 - 08:35:40 103d 18h 15m 40s 23d 14h 30m 54s 29.45% 9.78 / 11.69 29115.7 24 FRA 06 TSE – 4myplanet 1998 F 2021-02-28 - 07:23:44 111d 17h 03m 00s 31d 13h 18m 14s 39.37% 9.09 / 10.51 28170.7 25 FIN 222 Stark 2007 M 2021-03-05 - 08:35:46 116d 18h 15m 46s 36d 14h 31m 00s 45.67% 8.7 / 10.39 29122 DNF FRA 69 Merci 2005 / Sébastien Destremau M 2021-01-16 12:00:00 Steering + other issues 60 nm south of New Zealand, retired unaided to Christchurch DNF MACSF § 2007 / Isabelle Joschke F 2021-01-09 21:23:00 Day 62 Canting Keel Mechanism Failure retired unaided Salvador, Bahia. She completed the race unofficial in a time of 107d 20h 54m. DNF Newrest – Art & Fenêtres § 2015 M 2020-12-11 14:42:00 General computer failure, diverted to and retired unaided to Cape Town DNF Initiatives-cœur (3) § 2010 F 2020-12-05 13:00:00 Day 26: keel damage following collision with unidentified floating object; retired unaided in Cape Town. She continued outside the race unofficially in a time of 109d 23h 40m. DNF Arkea – Paprec § 2019 M 2020-12-04 14:00:00 Day 25: damaged starboard foil following collision with floating object; retired unaided to Cape Town DNF Hugo Boss 7 § 2019 M 2020-12-04 08:30:00 Day 21: rudder damage, diverted to and retired unaided to Cape Town DNF PRB 4 § 2010 M 2020-12-01 08:00:00 Structural hull failure, abandoned to liferaft; boat lost DNF Corum L’Épargne § 2020 M 2020-11-16 15:00:00 Day 8: Dismasted, diverted unaided to Cape Verde Islands § – boat equipped with hydrofoils

Competitors