Fourth Time Around and 2nd Vendée for Sébastien Josse

After finishing the 2005 Vendée in 5th place despite breakdowns on his six-year-old VMI, Sébastien Josse is among the favorites for a podium finish in the 2008 edition of the race. Harken caught up with him before for start. http://www.harken.com/Interviews/SebJosse.php

Th. Martinez/Sea&Co Photo

First Vendée for Samantha Davies

This is the first Vendée for British entrant Samantha Davies, but the third for her Open 60 Roxy (formally Vincent Riou's PR4). Sam says Roxie is extremely reliable and very quick downwind. She's added foot chocks and a Harken gearing system to help with winching. http://www.harken.com/Interviews/SamanthaDavies.php

Jean Marie Liot/DPPI Photo

Patrick Rieupeyrout & Jean Martins—Harken France

Patrick and Jean talk about their long history with the Vendée and how, even with the stiffer, more powerful boats, dependable hardware is making them faster and safer to sail. http://www.harken.com/interviews/Rieupeyrout_Martins.php

Jacques Vapillon Photo

Jean Martins
Technical Service/Racing and Custom Boat Sales
Known by high-profile sailors in France as the "racing customer service guy," Jean Martin's technical knowledge is unequalled. And it was through his race support and technical service that he grew to know many of France's greatest sailors: Eric Tabarly, Philippe Poupon, Laurent Bourgnon, Lock Peyron, Olivier de Kersauson, Francis Joyon. "I think they ask for me because I started working with them when they built their Mini Transat 6.5s. These same sailors have gone on to race Open 40s and 60s and the mega multihulls," said Jean. In 1989, I installed the deck hardware on the first Vendée Globe boats and I've continued to do so for every edition since then. Many of these sailors have become friends. I learned everything from them."

"Working for Harken is a passion", Jean went on. "I love my job and take enormous pleasure out of working on a project from beginning to end: customer contact, initial meetings, deck layout, offer, installation and sea trial. Unfortunately, I am not able to sail as much as I'd like because I get seasick! Sometimes I go sailing on an 18 ft catamaran for a couple of hours. It's so fast I don't have time to be sick!" http://www.harken.com/GrandPrix/Global_
TechnicalService.php

SAFRAN, Marc Guillemot, VPLP/Verdier
FONCIA, Michel Desjoyeaux, Farr
GITANA EIGHTY, Loick Peyron, Farr
PRB 5, Vinvent Riou, Farr
BT, Sébastien Josse, Farr
GENERALI, Yan Elies, Finot
ROXIE, Samantha Davies, Finot
BRIT AIR, Armel Le Cleac'h, Finot
AKENA VÉRANDAS, Arnaud Boissieres, Finot
DELTA DORE, Jeremie Beyou, Farr
PAPREC-VIRBEC II, Jean-Pierre Dick, Farr
TEMENOS II, Dominique Wavre, Owen Clark
HUGO BOSS, Alex Thomson, Finot
VM MATÉRIAUX, Jean Le Cam, Lombard
ECOVER III, Mike Golding, Owen Clark
CHEMINÉES POUJOULAT, Bernard Stamm, Farr
MAISONNEUVE, Jean Baptiste Dejeanty, Angelo Lavrance
VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT, Lombard, Roland Jourdain
PINDAR, Bryan Thomson, Kouyoumdjan
DCNS, Mark Thiercelin, Finot
SPIRIT OF CANADA, Derek Hatfield, Owen Clark

TTR AirBlock®

A 98-percent efficiency rating allows trimmers to grind in a higher gear longer, making trimming faster and more effective. Ideal for flying runners, traveler controls, boom blocks, masthead blocks, and mainsheet blocks. http://tradeonly.harken.com/pdf/
TTRblock-lr.pdf

MX PEDESTAL

The Harken MX pedestal's internal overdrive system is a breakthrough in racing pedestal technology. MX systems allow grinders to have extremely fast winch speeds for hoisting and jibing—up to three times faster than handle rotation—but don't require heavy, bulky overdrive boxes. http://tradeonly.harken.com/pdf/MX-pedestal-lr.pdf

Global Tech Team

Regatta Service

July 2008 Newsletter