A Wide Range of Winners

Thrilling finishes at the Vendée Globe 2020/2021

Normally, there is a clear winner in sporting competitions. But the Vendée Globe, as the toughest sailing race in the world, has always written its own stories. The race in 2020 / 2021 was a real thriller, full of unexpected twists, absolute drama and pure emotion. The top two finishers and six other yachts were coated with paint systems from ALEXSEAL® . Let's take a short review at some of the highlights of the Vendée Globe and its protagonists:

Image © MICHAELKURTZPHOTO  →

The first is not the first

After 80 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes and 47 seconds, Charlie Dalin is the first to cross the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonnes with his APIVIA. Celebratory and relieved, yet at the same time an anxious look at his closest rivals. Yannick Bestaven flies towards the coast in the Bay of Biscay. Bringing along a time credit of 10:15 hours, which he earned in the search for the shipwrecked Kevin Escoffier. And it helps him. With MAÎTRE COQ IV, he pushes past Dalin in the time table to win the Vendée Globe.

The second to make Dalin tremble in the last nautical miles was Boris Hermann. The German also has a time credit of 6 hours due to the search for Escoffier. But a collision with a fishing trawler shatters his dreams of winning his first Vendée Globe in seconds. The crash damages his SEAEXPLORER so badly on hull and foil that he has to struggle to reach the finish line at walking pace. In the end he gets a very respectable 5th place.

Test for men and material

The race is a roller coaster ride for the mental health of the men and women on board as well as for the yachts themselves. Heat, cold, salt water, UV radiation. Mechanical stress, collisions and much more take their toll on the sailors. Added to this are lack of sleep, loneliness and the unpredictability of the world's oceans. What a breathtaking and exciting setting. And in the heart of this setting, we sent our ALEXSEAL® yacht coatings around the globe on the APIVIA, MAÎTRE COQ IV and 6 other yachts - as a stress and quality test par excellence.

Professional yacht photographer Michael Kurtz was able to take a detailed look at the surface of the Apivia. Both in the marina, at the start and after the finish, he was able to capture the racing yacht in detail in front of the lens. "The paint looked just as brilliant after the finish as it did when the race started," he reported to the ALEXSEAL® team.

That's high praise with a professional eye from the passionate sports photographer and yacht consultant, which we gladly accept. We were delighted to support the teams with high-gloss and high-durable coatings and we are already curious to see with how many yachts will sail around the world at the 10th edition in 2024 with our coating solutions .

 Image © MICHAELKURTZPHOTO


↑  Image © MICHAELKURTZPHOTO

Vendée Globe 20/21

Boats painted with Alexseal

La Fabrique (Alain Roura)

L‘Occitane (Armel Tripon)

Apivia (Charlie Dalin)

Yes we cam (Jean Le Cam)

Charal (Jéremie Beyou)

Groupe Apicil (Damien Seguin)

Initiatives Cœur (Samantha Davies)

Maitre Coq IV (Yannick Bestaven)

ALEXSEAL Non-skid

Safe stand even under challenging and harsh conditions. Explore our product solution.

Read more