ROUND THE WORLD SAILBOAT RACE ENDS IN RECORD TIME
"VENDEE GLOBE" IS WON BY 29 YEAR OLD FRANCOIS GABART
By Khantil Desai
The Vendée globe 2012-2013 is a yacht race around the earth. Twenty people started in the race in November and nine have already been disqualified or have dropped out. Eleven people remain in the race and four have already finished. The contestants, who travel non-stop alone around the world, started in France, then they travelled down the tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope), then under Australia (Cape Leuwin) and finally under the tip of South America (Cape Horn), the most dangerous cape of all, the place where cold winds from the Atlantic meet warm from the Pacific. It is the place of no return, Cape Horn. After, they go all the way back to France. They went through all this trouble because they are all after a huge cash prize of $190,000. But even if you don’t come first, coming back alive after going around the world in a sail powered yacht alone is its own reward. The winner was 29 year old Francois Gabart, the youngest winner in history. Armel Le’Cleach came second, and Alex Thomson came third. The total time for first place was 78 days and there are still seven people out in the ocean racing to the finish right now.
Week 1 highlights from the Vendee Globe
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