Boat prepared for the extreme conditions that set the Velux 5 Oceans Race apart as The Ultimate Solo Challenge®. The boat is Pro-Form (ex-Whirlpool, ex-Tiscali), and her pedigree includes first place in the 1999 Fastnet Race and 2nd in the important Transat Jacques Vabre that same year.  Pro-Forms was build in 1998 for Catherine Chabaud and was subsequently sailed by Simone Bianchetti (3rd Place, Class I 2002-3) and later Marc Thiercelin, and she sports a carbon/Nomex hull, twin daggerboards and rudders, a canting keel, more than 5,000 square feet of sail on a 95-foot mast, and an ultra-light displacement of just 8.5 tons.