Fabrice Amedeo relaunched his boat FDJ United – Wewise
Fabrice Amedeo Launches Refurbished IMOCA for 2025 Season
The launch of a boat is always a significant symbolic moment, representing the promise of new adventures on the open sea at the dawn of a new season. Fabrice Amedeo and his team relaunched their IMOCA on Thursday, May 15th, sporting a new livery. The boat, on which the sailor completed his second Vendée Globe this winter, is now named FDJ – UNITED – WEWISE.
The post-round-the-world refit was relatively light, as the boat returned in good condition. The focus was on verifying all the critical components of the IMOCA after such a long journey around the planet: mast and hull, hydraulics, rigging, ropes, and cables. The aim was also to upgrade it in preparation for the 2025 season’s challenges.
The season will include the Course des Caps race around the British Isles, which will be held with a crew at the end of June. Fabrice has enlisted Andreas Baden, a well-acquainted expert with the boat, with whom he participated in the last Transat Jacques Vabre. The crew will also include Camille Etienne, an environmental activist, Martin Amescua Ruiz, a Spanish sailor, and Rémi Blanc as the media person.
The rest of the season will feature the Défi Azimut in Lorient in September, followed by the Transat Café l’Or in November, the new name for the Transat Jacques Vabre, which starts from Le Havre as a double-handed race to Martinique, via the Canary Islands.
The objectives for the sailor remain similar to those of the Vendée Globe: to push his limits, navigate without using fossil fuels, continue oceanographic measurement campaigns offshore around the British Isles and then on the Atlantic, and share a great adventure with the public.
Fabrice Amedeo: “With this second Vendée Globe completed, a new cycle and a new venture begin. The goal is to go back offshore on this older boat to start scoring points for the 2028 Vendée Globe, but also to continue the measurement campaigns, which are becoming more exciting each year as more scientists have joined my project and rely on me to bring back valuable data on the state of our oceans. I also have in mind to change boats, so this season with a crew and double-handed is a great year of transition after an exhausting round the world and while waiting to return offshore solo. I am neither satiated nor jaded, I am happy to go back to sea and I thank my team for the work they have done.”
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