It’s official. Spirit of Canada Qualified for Vendee Globe 2008

Canadian single-handed sailor Derek Hatfield is officially qualified to enter the Vendee Globe 2008 - a singlehanded non-stop race around the world.

Just before Christmas, Hatfield completed the Transat Ecover B2B, the single-handed transatlantic race from Brazil to France that is a qualifier for the Vendee Globe. It was also a great chance to shake down his racing machine, the Canadian-built Open 60, Spirit of Canada. Then just last week, all the documentation and official medical training was completed and filed with the Vendee Globe organizers and the official race number; #15 was issued by the organizers.

“I am very proud to finally finish the qualifications for the Vendee Globe 2008. It has been a lot of hard work getting this far but with the support that we receive from so many Canadians, we will be on the start line this November.” said Hatfield. On November 8, 2008, Hatfield, 56, will be the only Canadian in the race competing. He and the Spirit of Canada will be the first Canadian team to attempt the race.

Certainly there are always legends made during the Vendee Globe, started in 1989 by famed French sailor Philippe Jeantot. It is a single-handed yacht race held every four years and is non-stop around the world, starting in les Sables d’Olonne France, rounding Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, entering the Indian Ocean, then the Southern Ocean, dancing around icebergs, rounding Cape Horn, finishing back in France.

The number of participants is capped at 30 and represents the world’s elite sailors. It is the pinnacle of a sailor’s career to enter and finish the Vendee. The sailors must show they are able to enter the Vendee by completing a single-handed race such as the Transat Ecover B2B. Sailors must also demonstrate that their boats are up to the task, by completing a test to determine if their boats can be righted after capsizing and the boats must also meet a series of design specifications.

Hatfield is currently sailing from France to Canada to allow for more training, fine-tuning and repairs following the grueling race that saw two other boats dismasted in their attempt to qualify for the Vendee.

Now Hatfield’s biggest challenge is to raise more money and awareness about his campaign in Canada. The former Mountie has so far managed to raise funds through corporate donations and his “Around Together”
campaign that offers to put a name on the boat along for a small donation. He’s raised $1,600,000 and put over 5200 crew names on the hull through the Around Together campaign but needs to double that in the next few months before he leaves as well as additional corporate sponsorship. His budget for the race is about $3.5 million and he has borrowed money as well to pursue the goal. For the Vendee, that’s a shoestring budget as his competitors will have at least twice that for their campaigns.

“The countdown to the Vendee Globe is now on and the next six months will go by very quickly,” said Hatfield. “We have a number of hurdles ahead of us; mostly of the financial kind; but as one skipper recently told me in Brazil, If the Vendee Globe was easy, then everyone would be doing it.’”

Hatfield though is confident such hurdles will be overtaken and he will not give up until Spirit of Canada reaches the finish in France in the spring of 2009.