The Vendée Globe 2012-2013, is a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed non-stop and without assistance, a serious test of endurance. The race started last Saturday and finishes in Les Sables-d'Olonne , in the Vendée département of France ; both Les Sables d’Olonne and the Vendée Conseil Général are official race sponsors. The course is essentially a circumnavigation along the clipper route : from Les Sables d’Olonne, down the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope ; then clockwise around Antarctica , keeping Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn to port; then back to Les Sables d’Olonne.