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It is not a stretch to say the healthiest area of the sport is class racing. This isn’t necessarily because people dislike rating rules, but rather class organizations manage the limits to maintain interest. In this report by Matthew Sheahan for Yachting World, he details how the IMOCA class has taken a conservative approach to maximize participation:
That tens of thousands of Vendée Globe fans were prepared to get up in the early hours of the morning and camp out on a sea wall in the middle of winter to see a group of boats pass by is truly remarkable. I can’t think of another event in sailing that has this kind of pulling power on this scale.
There is no doubt the Vendée Globe is an extraordinary phenomenon. Forty years old, now in its 10th edition and with a record entry of 40 boats there’s nothing else like it in sport. The fact 39 boats made it down to the South Atlantic having crossed the Bay of Biscay was also a record. – Full report
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