Image: Fives Group - Lantana Environnement skipper Louis Duc (FRA) is photographed after taking 26th place in the Vendee Globe, on February 09, 2025 in Les Sables d'Olonne, France - (Photo by Jean-Marie Liot / Alea)
Louis Duc, 26th in the Vendée Globe
Louis Duc has completed his first round the world race, taking 26th position, at 1210hrs (UTC) after 91 days and 8 minutes at sea. Despite a long damage list on his aging IMOCA, the sailor from Normandy proved he was up to solving the numerous puzzles that littered his path.
The fourth day after leaving Les Sables d’Olonne proved ominous when two spinnakers – large and small were badly damaged in quick succession, with one rendered useless for the remainder of the race. Nevertheless, the sailor from Normandy, who notched up an 8th place in the 2022 Vendée-Arctique and 14th in the 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre, is not the type to give up easily. He bought his badly fire damaged 14-year-old boat in 2020, and rebuilt it with his team.
Five years later, he was crossing the equator at speed and in 23rd place. He was in good spirits, as he took the lead of his small group in the South Atlantic, having routed further to the west. He then pushed his boat hard in the Indian ocean, enduring periods of 60 knot winds before passing Cape Leeuwin in 25th place and well ahead of a number of newer foiling IMOCAs.
However, the following night, his starboard rudder tie bar broke, as did a support for the hydrogenerator, forcing more long hours of DIY. Nevertheless just four days later, the skipper of Fives Group – Lantana Environnement beat his personal solo 24 hour distance record over 24 hours, covering 469 miles.
This impressive performance enabled him to catch up with the leading boats in his group, who were slowed by calms at the entrance to the Pacific. Then, after 48 hours in a storm that some had chosen to avoid by slowing down, Louis was barrelling towards Cape Horn, which he rounded in 26th place. This was a happy and proud moment, even if his autopilot was now limited to “compass” mode.
However, this hindered progress, as did the spinnaker problems in the next area of calmer winds: “I was five days behind the boats I had been with,” Louis says, “it was frustrating but that’s how it is.”
Despite these set backs, Louis took the lead of his group again along the Brazilian coast, climbing back to 24th place. Back in the Northern hemisphere, he negotiated an unusually violent are of tradewinds and was still 26th approaching the Azores, when one of his two daggerboards broke, severely hampering progress on one tack in the final days of the race. Yet Louis continued to remain upbeat and battle to the end, finishing his first circumnavigation in style and itching to leave again.
Sébastien Marsset, 27th in the Vendée Globe
On crossing the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne on February 9th, the skipper of Foussier took 27th place, at 1237hrs (UTC), after 91 days and 35 minutes at sea. The completion of this circumnavigation marks a colossal achievement for Sébastien, who started his Vendée Globe programme just three years ago, with one of the smallest budgets and oldest boats of any skipper in the 10th edition of the race.
As with many first-time competitors, he faced a long, hard battle simply to get to the start line. The tears he shed a few minutes after the start are therefore a measure of the relief felt by the skipper having successfully the first stage of his campaign and finally lining up against his 39 competitors.
The second battle was played out on the water, where this experienced sailor is far more at home. He had already rounded Cape Horn three times in The Ocean Race, winning the 2012 edition on Groupama 4, and in the Jules Verne Trophy aboard the giant Ultime trimaran Spindrift.
In the early stages of his debut solo circumnavigation Sébastien made a remarkable start, then entered the doldrums in 19th place. However, he fell back to 28th by the time he reached the south-easterly trade winds. He then picked up one place before reaching the Cape of Good Hope in 27th place, despite breaking a hydraulic ram for the canting keel mechanism.
The Indian Ocean served up a series of intense low pressure systems as well as failure of his heating in cold southern seas. On December 16 he also celebrated his 40th birthday deep in the Roaring Forties.
The skipper, who finished the 2022 Route du Rhum as the first daggerboard boat and 11th overall, continued to push as hard as possible throughout his Vendée Globe. By the entrance to the Pacific ocean, when boats ahead were slowed by light airs, he regained 21st place and the lead of his small group.
"Look at how beautiful it is!”
Sébastien began the New Year with a fright no Vendée Globe skipper ever wants to encounter. He was heading straight for an iceberg and was alerted to it only by the radar alarm!
On rounding Cape Horn in 27th place in a tight battle with Louis Duc, Sébastien remarked on the beauty of the surrounding land mass and ocean: “Look at how beautiful it is, the Andes mountain range, the southern tip of the American continent, behind the Patagonian channels... Wow, it's magnificent!”
However, the climb back up the Atlantic proved an ordeal with multiple set backs. Stuck in an area of calms, Sébastien saw his competitors a little further north escape into stronger winds. He also encountered multiple system failures on his tired boat: steering, gennaker, mainsail batten boxes, autopilot and finally the engine.
Nevertheless, after crossing the equator in 26th position, Sébastien continued to savour his experience at sea, saying: "we have to make the most of the remaining time.”
By reaching the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonne, he has achieved the feat of completing a non-stop solo circumnavigation, and of showing that the dream can always be accessible, even without the resources of a big team.
Here are the latest arrival estimates for the next Vendée Globe competitors. ALL TIMES UTC
(ETA : Estimated Time of Arrival)
Antoine Cornic (Human Immobilier) : 13th February 2025
Oliver Heer (TUT GUT.) : 16th February 2025
Jingkun Xu (Singchain Team Haikou) : 16th February 2025
Manuel Cousin (Coup de pouce) : Between 26th and 27th February 2025
Fabrice Amedeo (Nexans - Wewise) : Between 26th and 27th February 2025
Denis Van Weynbergh (D'Ieteren Group) : Between 27th February and 28th February 2025
Out of race:
Eric Bellion (Stand As One): Night between 11th and 12th February 2025
These ETAs are drawn up by the Race Direction and will be updated daily.