Here at Ride Engine we make the very best equipment for your life on the water.
Be it a weekend shred sesh or a dream trip to Dahkla or a season on Maui, Ride Engine will have a bag to fulfill your life’s plan. What’s equally gratifying for us is seeing people use our gear for things we hadn’t really expected: like Britain’s Alex Thomson using our compression bags and Space Age Duffels for this year’s Vendée Globe, a solo, no-assistance, non-stop around-the-world yacht race.
What is the Vendée Globe?
Founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, the Vendée Globe has a reputation as the world’s toughest sailing race (proof: more people have been to space than have finished the Vendée Globe!).
The race is an astounding 21,638 miles—starting at France’s Les Sables d’Olonne, the racers sail across the Atlantic, head south along the east coast of South America, then, once the Southern Ocean is reached, sail directly east past Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and Australia’s Cape Leeuwin, and finally passing South America’s Cape Horn before dashing north and finishing back at Les Sables d’Olonne.
Where does Ride Engine come in?
Alex has put in years of planning, training, and preparation for this year’s grueling race and no detail has been overlooked—and that includes choosing our Ride Engine compression bags and Space Age Duffels for keeping all of his months of food organized and secure. Proper packing for such an enormous sailing challenge is paramount—the Vendée Globe is a fully unsupported race and each person is on their own for the entirety of the around-the-world race.
Ride Engine has high-performance standards.
We build our bags with a minimalist, high-function, maximum durability design philosophy, which clearly translates for Alex’s no-nonsense needs. The Space Age Duffels are made with durable zippers and handles and built with weather-resistant PVC material, which ensures all of Alex’s essential foods are kept safe and dry. And the compression bags keep everything tightly organized inside with easy-to-read labels and quick-cinching drawstrings.
The race began this year on November 8th and will end sometime in mid- to early-January 2021. The record is 74 days, but Alex and others, sailing in foiling raceboats, will strive to break the record this year. We hope so, since rumor has it that Alex has only packed 67 days’ worth of food into his Ride Engine bags!
Follow along as Alex makes his bid for the Vendée Globe title. We wish him a safe and speedy journey around the world!
Live Tracking of the Vendee Globe Here
RIDE ENGINE DUFFELS
Lightweight: This a crucial benefit of a duffel over wheeled luggage, especially when trying to bring all your gear and get under the airlines’ luggage weight limit. With no wheels and no structural frame, a duffel can save you upwards of five pounds, making it the go-to if getting underweight is a primary concern.
Cost: Thanks to its simplified construction, duffels are cheaper than similarly sized wheeled luggage.
Compactable: With no frame or structure, a duffel can be more easily crammed into tight spots (e.g., the back seat of taxi). Additionally, an empty duffel can be folded up and stashed out of the way under a bed or in the back of a closet upon arriving at your destination.
Versatility: A duffel’s versatility really shines when you’re travels involve bouncing around from plane to taxi, ferry to tuk-tuk, mini-bus collective to beach buggy (hero-level points if you combine them all in one trip!). When you know there’s going to be multiple “duffel shuffles” on your trip, you’ll be stoked to have a duffel with enough strap options to quickly and easily convert from backpack to shoulder sling to grab handles to tie-down points.