1996–1997 Vendée Globe
sailing competition
The 1996–1997 Vendée Globe was a non-stop round-the-world yacht race for IMOCA 50- and IMOCA 60-class yachts crewed by only one person. It was the third edition of the race, starting on 3 November 1996 from Les Sables-d'Olonne. The overall winner was Christophe Auguin who crossed the finish line on 17 February 1997 after a total time of 105 days, 20 hours and 31 minutes.
Summary
Another heavy-weather start in the Bay of Biscay knocked Nándor Fa and Didier Munduteguy out of the race early, and several others returned to the start for repairs before continuing. The rest of the fleet raced to the Southern Ocean, where a second attrition began: Yves Parlier and Isabelle Autissier broke rudders, leaving Christophe Auguin to lead the way into the south.
The race was won by Christophe Auguin. Catherine Chabaud, in sixth place, was the last to cross the finish line and the first woman to complete a solo navigation of the globe without stopping. Ten of the sixteen boats that started the race did not finish.
The book Godforsaken Sea by Derek Lundy profiles the 1996–1997 running of the race.
Incidents
Gerry Roufs
The yacht Groupe LG 2 and its Canadian sailor Gerry Roufs were lost in the Southern Ocean; his body was never found, but his boat was found five months later off the Chilean Coast.
The public source identifies “1996–1997 Vendée Globe” as sailing competition. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Vendée, Globe and sailing.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2355149. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1996 and 1997.
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This entry incorporates text from “1996–1997 Vendée Globe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.