After a spectacular 2023 season, that saw more miles sailed by more sailors in more races than ever before in the IMOCA Class, 2024 now lies ahead – a year that will dominated by two solo transatlantic sprints and then the biggest race of them all, the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe.

It will be an historic edition of the solo epic that is expected to feature the highest ever number of entries – with up to 40 sailors on the startline in early November – the highest number of nationalities involved, with 11 nations represented, and a fleet with more new boats than any other year bar 2008.

Antoine Mermod, the President of the IMOCA Class, is looking forward like everyone else connected with the Class to this ultimate test of men and women and machines on the global course.

“2024 is the Vendée Globe year,” he told the Class.

“That means for most of the skippers and teams it is one of the main goals of their campaigns. This is the time when you find out if you have done a good job and where you are. And that makes for huge team pressure for that race and on the work in the final months leading up to it.”

Mermod has no doubt that the challenge of the Vendée Globe remains the gold standard for most of the skippers in the IMOCA family. “This is the round-the-world race without any stops and single-handed,” he said. “For the skippers themselves it is the ultimate challenge and a unique challenge, and something that is both exciting and daunting, and it brings with it a great deal of pressure and expectations.”

Ahead of the Vendée Globe are The Transat CIC from Lorient to the US starting at the end of April, the New York Vendée-Les Sables d’Olonne which sets sail at the end of May, and the annual Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération festival in mid-September.

Although the two Transats are important final qualifiers for the Vendée Globe which skippers will be keen to complete in one piece, Mermod has no doubt they will be hard-fought contests when IMOCA sailors will be looking to make their mark on the classic transatlantic course.

We will see a good fight, like it always is,” he said. “We can expect two really good races because we know the skippers and we know that it is always very tough to sail these kinds of boats – you cannot do it by half. You need to be fully involved and also there are many boats that can win this Vendée Globe. That means you have to be on the limit and to do that you need to train in racing mode and these transatlantic races are the perfect opportunities for that.”

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