One of the first sports events to kick-off since lockdown will be setting sail on Saturday 4 JULY AT 15:30hrs with the start of the prologue to the Vendée Globe: the Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne.

A genuine dress rehearsal for the season’s main event on 8 November 2020, there will be 20 competitors grouped together on the same start zone as the Vendée Globe. Though the sailors will naturally adhere to a strict health protocol, which will involve them leaving their ports of registry 24 hours before the race start, sport will be officially taking centre stage once again off Les Sables d'Olonne. Follow the action live!

LIVE TV COVERAGE OF THE START

The race organisation and France’s Vendée department are putting in place a production device enabling the public to follow all the latest action in the event.

Live from 15:15 to 16:10hrs
The signal (clean) of the start will be triggered on Saturday between 15:15 and 16:10hrs (French time). Produced by Nefertiti Production, in close collaboration with France 3 Pays de la Loire and TV Vendée, using the technical means of AMPVisualTV and Ektacom (on-board images), the live footage will be available at the SERTE Paris and will be copyright-free for all image channels and agencies. 

France Télévisions has got it covered!
Enthusiasts from the get-go, the teams at France Télévisions were keen to support sport’s return to the airwaves by broadcasting the start on France Ô as well as on France 3 Pays de la Loire, France 3 Bretagne, France 3 Normandie, France 3 Poitou Charentes, France 3 Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur and the primary channels. France 3 Pays de la Loire will be involved in the production with Anthony Brulez back in the studio, accompanied by the sailor Yann Eliès (two participations in the Vendée Globe and double champion of the Transat Jacques Vabre). Meantime, the journalist from France TV Sport, Gaël Robic, will be right up close to the boats aboard the Royale Production catamaran, whilst Stéphanie Pagrimaud, in Les Sables d'Olonne, and Gwénaëlle Bron, in Port-La-Forêt, will be reporting live from two of the sailors’ ports of registry. Finally, the digital stations and the france.tv platform will also be broadcasting the start online to the great delight of sports fans everywhere!

TV Vendée and the Breton network 
The Vendée-based channel, the loyal Vendée Globe broadcaster, will also share the live footage on its station. With commentary provided by Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, a sailor with twelve Cape Horn passages to his credit, the emission will also be available on TV Rennes.

International coverage
Nautical Channel in Italy, N-TV from the RTL group in Germany, as well as Japanese channels NHK and ASAHI will also be mobilised.

STREAMING OF THE START

Fire up your computers, tablets and smartphones from 15:15hrs on the Class IMOCA platforms to follow the commentary on the event by sports journalist Grégoire Tournon, whose entourage will comprise sailors Romain Attanasio (skipper of the IMOCA Pure Best-Western) and Pascal Bidégorry (North Atlantic record, victory in the Volvo Ocean Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre and a fine connoisseur of the foiling IMOCAs).
 
Live streaming will be available here:
Website: www.imoca.org
YouTube channel: @IMOCAGlobeseries
Facebook page: @IMOCAGlobeSeries
 
This live footage will also be available for broadcast on request (websites or social networks) from paul@optimist-digital.fr 

© Jérémy SOREL

THROUGHOUT THE RACE

Follow the race via vendee-arctique.com
To ensure you don’t miss any of the action in this race between Les Sables d'Olonne, lceland and the Azores, get your daily update on the race web page:

- News and press releases
- Audio sessions (morning and noon)
- Video calls with the skippers (midday)
- Weather reports
- ‘Gallimard Readings’
- Videos by researchers from the Institut Pasteur
- All the messages, photos and videos sent by the singlehanded sailors: thanks to the Class IMOCA’s communication partners: Iridium and Thalès,  (Thalès VesseLink antenna and the Iridium-Certus satellite network), all the on-board images will be sent in real-time, available here.


 

Live cartography
During the race, the position reports will be updated every 30 minutes, 24/7.

You can also find on the carto:

- History and statistics on progress made
- Rankings in elapsed time
- Weather forecasts
- Articles about Iceland and the Azores written by the ambassadors of Ulysse Nardin, the race’s official timekeeper
 
On the social networks 
Don’t hesitate to use the hashtag #VendéeArctique on the social networks and tag the following accounts ?
Website: www.imoca.org
Facebook page: @IMOCAGlobeSeries
Twitter: @ImocaGS
Instagram: @imocaglobeseries
YouTube channel: @IMOCAGlobeseries
LinkedIn: @IMOCACLASS

Virtual Regatta 
Should you wish to pit yourself against the skippers in the Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne you can do so thanks to our partner Virtual Regatta! ? 
Click on the link to begin playing: https://www.virtualregatta.com/fr/offshore-jeu/