Start of Vendée Globe 2020

On 8 November, 33 intrepid sailors set off from Les Sables-D’Olonne in western France to take part in the greatest, solo, non-stop, race around the world: the Vendée Globe. The route of around 45000 km takes them down through the Atlantic and into the heart of the Southern Ocean. Thanks to information from satellites, an ice exclusion zone has been established to help keep sailors away from icebergs. For extra safety, satellite images and data are being used to map any ice around Antarctica before the sailors pass through.