Thursday 21 May 2009

Vendée Globe: An exceptional show for the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe prize-giving ceremony



by Véronique Teurlay

The 2008-2009 Vendée Globe prize-giving ceremony will be taking place on Saturday 23rd May on the main beach in Les Sables d’Olonne. It will offer another opportunity to applaud the thirty sailors, who tackled the Everest of the Seas last winter. If we look back at what happened last time around, we can expect between 50,000 and 100,000 people to turn up for this big occasion, which is entirely free.

The ceremony, which is bound to be an emotional event, will begin at 10 p.m. by which time it will be dark. This event, completely free of charge will be a great popular occasion just like the Vendée Globe itself and will correspond to the achievements of the skippers. Alongside the presentation of the thirty participants and the handing over of the Vendée Globe trophies, there will also be a pyrotechnic display, a light show projected on to giant screens and a film summarising the sixth edition of the Vendée Globe.


Image copyright Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/Vendée Globe.

A large firework display will bring the ceremony to an end. This will be the moment to applaud for one final time the skippers, who took part in this edition, before looking forward to the next Vendée Globe in 2012-2013, the start date of which will be announced during the ceremony by Philippe de Villiers, the President of the Vendée Globe.

Vendée Globe

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