The Vendée Globe is sailing’s ultimate challenge, a single-handed, non-stop round-the-world race – completely without assistance. We’ll have two sailors taking part in the race: Louis Burton and Conrad Colman.

Louis Burton is a young, French sailor who we’ve supported for many years. He sails in the IMOCA Class and has had successful Transat Jacques Vabre and Route du Rhum campaigns. You can read two interviews with him here and here, where he talks about his preparation for this incredible race. Sailing the Bureau Vallée, this will be Louis’ second Vendée Globe.

Conrad Colman is a skipper originally from New Zealand, but now settled in France to pursue his dreams of offshore racing. He's raced the Mini Transat, Route du Rhum, won the Global Ocean Race and completed his last round the world race on a 60ft IMOCA in the Barcelona World Race. Conrad will be sailing in the 100% Natural Energy, which utilises solar panels integrated to the mainsail, and connected to an electric motor from Oceanvolt. Read about Conrad's early preparation here.

Ocean Kit

The two sailors will be wearing different styles of Gill kit. They’ll both be kitted out in products from our rigorous OC1 range. But Louis much prefers to wear the OC1 Jacket, while Conrad wants the latex seal of the OC1 Smock in addition to the Trousers. The OC1 Range has race-tested across 215,000 miles before production, and shaped by the wild ocean. Both of them will also be wearing a selection of mid-layers such as our new Thermogrid range, and classics like the Windproof Fleece Jacket. Conrad will also be wearing experimental prototypes, which will help aid our product development team with their research.

We’ll be posting progress from the race on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, so follow us for more updates from Louis and Conrad. And good luck to them both!