About the Vendee Globe

The Vendée Globe is the only non-stop, round-the-world sailing race for single-handed sailors. Starting and finishing from Les Sables d’Olonne, France, it's one of the most challenging tests of individual endurance there is and the ultimate goal for all solo sailors.

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Competitors spend around three months alone at sea, facing some of the toughest sailing conditions imaginable, most notably in the Southern Ocean. They cannot draw on external help, such as customised routing or weather information, over a journey of approximately 21,600 miles.

Before the race, the competitors have to undergo medical and survival courses and be able to demonstrate prior racing experience in a single-handed transoceanic race. Dee will have to complete a 2,700 nautical mile qualifying passage on the boat that she will helm for the race no later than 1 July 2008. Her gruelling training programme includes the Transat, a single-handed yacht race across the north Atlantic, which can be used as the qualifying passage.

The Vendée Globe is a race for monohull yachts that conform to the Open 60 class criteria. These criteria stipulate some elements such as overall length, draught and stability, as well as various safety features, but all other aspects of the design are unrestricted.

Open 60s are designed to be sailed by one person and are some of the fastest boats in sailing. Made from carbon fibre, they are both light and strong and can right themselves if they turn upside down.