Out of the thirteen monohulls that will be setting sail in the Transat Jacques Vabre on 30th October from Le Havre, 11 will be sailed by skippers that will be lining up for the start of the 2012 Vendee Globe.

With a year to go to the start of the non-stop solo round the world race, this transatlantic race resembles a rehearsal for the skilled sailors, as they attempt to grab the crown from Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier-Benac, the winners of the 2009 race.

4730 miles of double-handed sailing between Le Havre and Puerto Limon in Costa Rica: that is what faces the thirteen duos taking part in the tenth Transat Jacques Vabre. A great opportunity to see how they measure up before the next Vendee Globe, which is due to start on 10th November 2012.

The future entrants in the non-stop solo round the world race certainly see it like that, as 11 of them will be there at the start: Arnaud Boissieres, Kito de Pavant, Jean-Pierre Dick, Francois Gabart, Mike Golding, Marc Guillemot, Armel Le Cleac'h, Vincent Riou, Bernard Stamm, Alex Thomson and Dominique Wavre. Only the Spaniard Javier Sanso and the Italian Alessandro Di Benedetto, who has just announced he will be taking part, are missing from the line-up.

Jean-Pierre Dick, Vincent Riou, Francois Gabart and Armel Le Cleac'h will be competing aboard 4 VPLP-Verdier designed boats launched in 2010 or 2011; as for Bernard Stamm, he has opted for a Kouyoumdjian designed boat.

Armel Le Cleac'h will be setting off with Christopher Pratt aboard Banque Populaire, the former Foncia aboard which Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart took part in the Barcelona World Race. Francois Gabart, will in fact be a serious contender for the podium alongside Sebastien Col. Currently building up his experience as he makes his way towards the Vendee Globe, he is calmly looking forward to his first major race aboard Macif, the most recent 60-foot IMOCA, which was launched last August.

The Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm and his fellow crewman Jean-Francois Cuzon will be sailing aboard their new construction designed by Kouyoumdjian Cheminees Poujoulat and which was launched in May 2011.