27/09/2012

Newsletter

_the couNtdowN to the

VeNdee Globe has beGuN!

_arouNd aloNe – oN the

biG screeN

_les sables – here we come!

With a month and a half to go to the start of the Vendee Globe, the com-

petitors are entering the final phase of their preparations. The skipper of Mirabaud and his 19 adversa-ries are busier than ever. Dominique has just received his new mainsail, has run tests on the headsails that will take him around the world, has run every kind of test imaginable on the boat with his shore crew and that is aside from the sessions with the race orga-nisers and other events in Switzerland and France. D-Day is undeniably approaching, and approaching fast!Last Thursday 13 September, Dominique was a guest at a press conference at the Theatre Les Salons in Geneva hosted by Mirabaud, his main sponsor. He described his project in detail, his goals and gave some insight into the preparations that he has done and those that he still must do before he crosses the start line on 10 November. “Since the start of 2012 I have been prepa-ring for this challenge,” he described. “The Vendee Globe is a very special event to me;

it is the most complex and demanding race that exists and requires preparation on every level: technical, physical and psychological. Our prep work is going as planned, I am hap-py with it. I will be ready for the start on the 10 November in the best possible form to get the best result I can.” At the end of last week marine photogra-pher Thierry Martinez and a TV crew from Jean-Francois Rosse Productions went for a sail with Dominique to capture some stock photography and footage ahead of the start of the race that will go towards documenting his campaign. Dominique will also be shoo-ting from onboard during the Vendee Globe, but given the demanding nature of the race, he won’t have much time for this aspect of his duties. Dominique finally took part yesterday in the official press conference announcing the Vendée Globe, in Paris, together with all the skippers involved in the event. He is now back in La Rochelle to fine tune ahead of the delivery to the Sables d’Olonne scheduled for the 19 October.

2 www.dominiquewavre.com

the couNtdowN to the VeNdee Globe has beGuN!

The Vendee Globe is to be the star of a new film called ‘En Solitaire’ directed by

Christophe Offenstein who also directed ‘Ne le dis a personne’ and ‘Les Petits mouchoirs’. One of France’s most popular and best-known actors of the moment, Francois Clu-zet, will take the lead role. He most recent-ly starred in ‘Les Intouchables’ alongside Guillaume Canet and Virginie Efira to great acclaim. ‘En Solitaire’ will be filmed at sea with real sailors at a cost of 17 million Euros. It is due out on 6 November 2013.

Up until now very little detail has been leaked on the storyline. We know that it will be centred on the destiny of Yann Madec, who at the last minute before the start of the Vendee Globe, stands in for a famous skipper…We know that the action will unfold on a real IMOCA 60, the one that Marc Thircelin used for the last Vendee Globe, that filming will take three months and that some of the shooting will be done in the Sables d’Olonne during the start of the (real) Vendee Globe.

www.dominiquewavre.com 3

arouNd aloNe – oN the biG screeN

Mirabaud & Cie banquiers PrivésLaurent Koutaïssoff29, boulevard Georges-Favon1204 GenèveT: +41 58 816 23 90M: +41 79 786 78 93

MaxComm CommunicationBernard SchopferT: +41 22 735 55 30M: +41 79 332 11 76bernard.schopfer@maxcomm.ch

Crédits photosThierry Martinez/MirabaudWavre/ParetDR

As part of the preparations towards the race in November, Dominique recently took part in a number of meetings with the race orga-nisers. “It was great to go back to Les Sables d’Olonne, I have very fond memories of the place!” said Dominique. “I didn’t really have time to reminisce much though as we were focused on a plethora of details about the race. All the skippers were present as well as a lot of the people involved in the start of the big race.

“We discussed the Notice of Race in depth, we discussed logistics, technical areas, and much more. It was an exhaustive meeting. We also found out our berth on the dock, which seemed to bring the start that much closer!“The good news is that there is not too much ice in the Indian and Pacific Oceans yet. The bad news is that there have been several ice sightings in the southernmost part of the South Atlantic!”

www.dominiquewavre.com

les sables – here we come!