Every four years, the tranquil seaside resort on the French Atlantic coast is turned upside down. That's when over two dozen single-handed sailors start the Vendée Globe - the toughest regatta in the world - right here, not far from the harbour entrance of Les Sables d'Olonne. Millions of spectators flock to Les Sables in the weeks leading up to the start and for the start itself, pushing the town to its limits.
But why here? What brought the non-stop circumnavigators to Les Sables d'Olonne, of all places, when Lorient, Concarneau and La Rochelle, other epicentres of French ocean sports, are not far away?
Les Sables d'Olonne obviously has a special appeal for adventurers and ocean-going heroes; Austrian Norbert Sedlacek, for example, is preparing his extraordinary one-and-a-half round-the-world trip on an extraordinary Open 60 here. And the converted Mini 6.50, in which the Italian Alessandro Di Benedetto sailed around the world from Les Sables to Les Sables from 2009 to 2010, still stands behind a shipyard shed. Non-stop, of course.
In June 2018, Port Olona, the marina in Les Sables d'Olonne with around 1,600 berths, saw another eye-catching fleet of budding non-stop circumnavigators gather for the first time: the Golden Globe Race relocated the starting port for the re-run of the historic 1968/69 race here after a start in Plymouth failed to materialise. And once again the air of adventure blew through the town, with crowds cheering at the quay as the sailors returned. In future, the Golden Globe Race will also start in this small town on the Atlantic every four years.
