Vendée Globe: The courageous six - that's how feminine the Vendée Globe is

Six soloists will start the tenth edition of the Vendée Globe on 10 November. Samantha Davies will lead the small but very fine group of female ocean stormers in the anniversary edition. Known in sailing circles only as "Sam", the British "Initiatives-Cœur 4" skipper, who lives in France, is looking forward to her fourth solo around the world.

After a "UFO" crash off Cape Town and the bitter end to the last edition, the 50-year-old would prefer to repeat or improve on her debut result: She finished fourth in the 2008/2009 Vendée Globe.

Sam Davies: Vendée Globe podium possible

Sam Davies was born in Portsmouth, England, to a family of sailors and spent her childhood on the water. Her grandfather was a submarine captain. She learnt to walk on her parents' boat. After studying engineering at Cambridge University, she embarked on her racing career at the age of 24. With five circumnavigations and numerous transatlantic crossings, she is one of the most experienced sailors in the world.

Sam Davies is not only considered the "Queen of Hearts" of the Imoca world because of her open and dynamic approach, her daring and her great passion for sailing. She also uses every regatta to raise money for children with heart disease. Her commitment to children has made her the sailor with the big heart who has succeeded in combining sporting performance with solidarity. Her boat was built by Black Pepper Yachts, christened in 2022 and designed by Sam Manuard.

Boris Herrmann classifies Sam Davies, who has been highly active on the Imoca circuit for 20 years, as "definitely a top ten, but also a possible podium candidate". The Brit has hundreds of thousands of nautical miles under her belt and recently impressed with third place in the Transat in the spring. Her own goal for this Vendée Globe: "I would be most proud if I could be in the game from the first to the last day. I missed that in my two previous participations. I want to sail with commitment and be at the front of the pack. I know that the boat and I are capable of doing that."

Justine Mettraux: Swiss top ten candidate

Justine Mettraux on "TeamWork-Team Snef" also has a good chance of a strong top ten finish. The 38-year-old Geneva native comes from a Swiss sailing dynasty. Her brothers and sisters also sail at the highest level. Justine Mettraux has matured into a fixed star in the upper echelons of the Imoca class. She is also expected to achieve an outstanding result at this Vendée Globe, even though her ex-"Charal" from 2018 does not have such a completely new design as her top competitors.

Justine Mettraux has immense ocean racing experience and recently triumphed in the Ocean Race with the 11th Hour Racing team. This was her second victory, as she had previously won the most famous team race around the world in 2018 with the Dongfeng Race Team under the direction of skipper Charles Caudrelier.

A strikingly modest personality, Justine Mettraux initially had doubts about her abilities as a soloist, but her consistently good performances on the 2018 VPLP-designed "TeamWork-Team Snef" spoke and continue to speak for themselves. Mettraux is determined to do well in her first Vendée Globe. Many experts see Justine Mettraux as having the potential to be one of the top five challengers.

Clarisse Crémer: ambitious record holder

Four years ago, "L'Occitane en Provence" skipper Clarisse Crémer was the fastest woman to sail around the world alone and without interruption. After 87 days, the Frenchwoman, who has since become a mother, crossed the Vendée Globe finish line on her debut as twelfth overall and the most successful female skipper of the ninth edition. Now she is back at the start with the former "Apivia" designed by Guillaume Verdier.

Clarisse Crémer prepared herself in a double pass with Alan Roberts. She is mentored by none other than former British Vendée Globe star Alex Thomson. Another special feature is that Clarisse Crémer's husband Tanguy Le Turquais ("Lazare") will also be competing in the solo race around the world. Clarisse Crémer's goal is easy to understand, but challenging to achieve: After a not-so-easy 2024 season, the 34-year-old is aiming to improve on her debut. That means aiming for a place between one and eleven.

Isabelle Joschke: ready for the second attempt

That would also be a dream result for Isabelle Joschke. The Munich-born Franco-German's Imoca career stretches back to 2017. The last time she competed in a heroic and competitive Vendée Globe. However, she had to abandon the race after dramatic days and nights with severe keel problems, finishing the solo round the world outside the competition.

With a VPLP-Verdier design from 2007 that was fitted with foils in a campaign led by Alain Gautier, it will be a challenge to reach the top ten in Isabelle Joschke's second Vendée Globe participation. But the 47-year-old, who is campaigning for more female Imoca skippers, has remained the fierce and determined soloist she has always been. You can expect her to do everything she can to maximise her boat's potential.

Isabelle Joschke is optimistic about what she experienced at the premiere and the upcoming second test: "It took me a long time to find the right sense again. My first participation was logical. I had wanted to do it for a long time. The Vendée Globe is an incredibly big adventure."

"A lot has changed for the better. I'm really looking forward to my second participation!" Isabelle Joschke

For sailors, she says, the Vendée Globe is "simply Everest". She continues: "You want to do that. In the end, I was glad to have done it, but it was very hard. I suffered a lot during the race. I hadn't expected that. I had thought that I was a strong person who could cope with anything. That I would get through it without any problems." But that wasn't the case on her first attempt, when she went through hell with her keel swinging freely. The second attempt should be different.

Pip Hare: Fighter and entertainer

Pip Hare will be the second Brit alongside Sam Davies. The 50-year-old finished her debut at the ninth Vendée Globe in 19th place. She then bought the VPLP-Verdier foiler "Bureau Vallee 2" (formerly "Banque Populaire VIII") built by Louis Burton in 2015. In collaboration with technical director Joff Brown, the boat underwent a comprehensive refit and was fitted with new, much larger foils.

"Medallia" skipper Pip Hare is a great protagonist for the solo race around the world, who loves to talk about her adventures at sea. She proved just how tough and capable she is during the last edition when she replaced a broken rudder in the Southern Ocean. Pip Hare operated with her team in Poole on the south coast of England while preparing for the second solo around the world. She is also hoping for a better result than last time for her second attempt at the summit.

Violetta Dorange: the youngest wants to know more

The youngest of the female sextet for the Vendée Globe is celebrating her premiere: Violetta Dorange is only 23 years old and is already challenging the world's oceans as a Vendée Globe newcomer. The young Frenchwoman radiates enormous positive energy, but at the same time approaches the race with very serious ambitions. Fourteenth in the Imoca world rankings, she has already proven that her boat "Devenir", built in 2006 and designed by Farr Yacht Design, can hold its own against comparable competitors.

A protégé of veteran Jean Le Cam, Violetta Dorange sails the boat that Michel Desjoyeaux won with in 2001 and with which Jean Le Cam finished a remarkable fourth in 2021. A former 420 and mini-transat sailor from La Rochelle, Dorange has only a small budget but has worked hard to learn her trade and understand the systems on board. The young woman will definitely have a story of her own to tell at this 10th Vendée Globe. She has come to stay.

It is also interesting to know that in the history of the Vendée Globe, twelve female skippers have made 15 starts since the premiere in 1989. The Frenchwoman Catherine Chabaud has made two attempts, Sam Davies even three. Catherine Chabaud was the first to complete a race. She finished sixth in the 1996/1997 race. England's sailing icon Ellen MacArthur achieved the best result in 2000/2001 with second place.

10th Vendée Globe: 15 per cent of the starters are women

Three times - at the premiere, 1992/1993 and 2016/2017 - there were no women at the start of a Vendée Globe. With six women on the starting line of the 10th Vendée Globe, the previous record of the ninth edition in 2020/2021 (then: 18%) has been broken. In the record fleet of the upcoming edition, the six women bring the proportion of female starters to 15 per cent.

Click here for an overview of all skippers of the 10th Vendée Globe.

SPECTACULAR! Pictures of a Pacific ride that Isabelle Joschke experienced at her Vendée Globe premiere four years ago:

WELCOME ABOARD! Sam Davies presents her boat "Initiatives-Cœur" for the Vendée Globe: