Pewaukee, WI, October 3, 2008—Harken has equipped 22 boats entered in the 20th edition of the Vendée Globe with winch packages and hardware. The race, which is set to start November 9, will feature 30 IMOCA Open 60s sailing non-stop around the world.

The 2008-2009 Vendée will see solo sailors battle each other around the world on a course that will take them down into the Southern Ocean, around the three Great Capes and back up into the Atlantic, finishing where they began in les Sables d’Olonne, France. This tried-and-true ocean course will challenge boats and skippers with a wide range of conditions and test the all-around durability and consistency of equipment throughout the race.

"The Vendée Globe is referred to as the Everest of sailing, and is a true test of sailors and their equipment. As these men and women push their boats to the limits, they depend on their equipment to perform in every condition," comments Peter Harken, president. "We’ve answered their requests for extremely durable, lightweight, and efficient hardware.”

These powered-up Open 60s feature Harken 880 winches and unique hardware and deck layouts to help skippers handle these machines alone. The popular traveler car choice is the Harken Big Boat CRX car, which can be configured to suit a variety of mainsheet purchases and traveler control set-ups. Boats will also use various sizes of the new Black Magic® Loop blocks, which feature strong, soft loop attachments. Many boats will also feature Harken’s easy-to-handle High-Load Snatch blocks; these blocks can be quickly opened and attached with one hand, making it the ideal multi-purpose block for solo sailors.

Harken-equipped boats include:
Safran (Mark Guillemot), Foncia (Michael Desjoyeaux), Gitana Eighty (Loick Peyron), PRB 5 (Vicent Riou), BT (Sébastien Josse), Generali (Yann Eliés), Brit Air (Armel Le Cléac'h), Akena Vérandas (Arnaud Boissiéres, Delta Dore (Jérémie Beyou), Paprec-Virbec II (Jean-Pierre Dick), Temenos II (Dominique Wavre), Hugo Boss (Alex Thomsson), VM Matériaux (Jean Le Cam), Ecover III (Mike Golding, Groupe Maisonneuve (Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty),
Veolia Environnement (Ronald Jourdain), Pindar (Brian Thompson), DCNS (Marc Thiercelin), Spirit of Canada (Derek Hatfield), Roxy (Samantha Davies) , Energies Autour du Monde (Yannick Bestaven).

Links:
Website: Vendée Globe