Vendée Globe clothing leaves Decathlon CEO ‘blown away’
The chief executive of sports clothing, footwear and equipment group Decathlon, Barbara Martin Coppola, has paid tribute to the team at a special product development centre the company has in the port of La Rochelle.
For the past three years, the team there has worked with offshore sailor Yannick Bestaven to develop a new series of clothing called Offshore Pro.
On November 10, Yannick Bestaven wore the new clothing in competitive action for the first time when the 2024-2025 Vendée Globe race began.
“Yannick worked for three years with our incredibly talented product experts,” Ms Martin Coppola said. She added that she had visited the product development centre just before the start of the race and had been “blown away” by the technical capabilities on display.
The centre in La Rochelle has its own rain room in which the development team sought to replicate severe stormy sea conditions to reassure sailors that the clothing would keep moisture out and keep heat in even in the worst weather.
The Vendée Globe is a single-handed, non-stop, round-the-world yacht race, which starts and finishes at Les Sables-d’Olonne on France’s Atlantic course. It takes place every four years.
Yannick Bestaven is the current title-holder after completing the 2020-2021 race in 80 days, 13 hours and 59 minutes. He wasn’t the first to cross the line, but received a bonus of 10 hours and 15 minutes from the race’s jury for his efforts to rescue fellow competitor Kevin Escoffier, whose yacht sank off the Cape of Good Hope.
Well known previous competitors include Ellen MacArthur, who was second to Michel Desjoyeaux in the 2000-2021 race.
Image: Yannick Bestaven testing the new Decathlon Offshore Pro clothing.
Credit: Christophe Breschi/Decathlon
