Offshore Racing With Michel Desjoyeaux: the 3D Sailing Game
Offshore Racing with Michel Desjoyeaux is an online 3D serious game that Dassault Systèmes launched in 2011 for sailing novices and enthusiasts. Its official page can no longer be found as of November 2026.
Updated
What the game was
Dassault Systèmes, a maker of 3D design and product lifecycle software, built the game in a project with Michel Desjoyeaux. The company describes him as the most highly awarded solo sailor in the world, and he is a double winner of the Vendée Globe race.
Players take part in a virtual offshore yacht race. Desjoyeaux appears as an avatar who offers tips and advice and shares some of his favorite racing experiences along the way. The game ran online, with a version for 3D television, so it could be played on more than one kind of screen.
The game followed two earlier public projects by the company in the same field. The first let people help yachtsmen design their boat, and the second let them join the sailors on board, so the race itself was the third step in a sequence.
A prize contest went with the launch. It ran until May 28, 2011, and the prizes were sailing jackets and polar jackets.
What it taught and who it was for
The audience was people who know little about sailing as well as fans who follow it. The game set out to show the strategic side of a race and the practical side of handling a boat.
On the practical side, players learn how to handle and maneuver the boat in all types of weather, including rough conditions, and how to manage the stages of life on board the 60-foot monohull Foncia, as quickly and properly as possible.
On the strategy side, they plan the route between the start and the finish and adapt their sailing to the wind. The aim is to finish the race as quickly as possible.
What is true today
Dassault Systèmes' main website is online in November 2026 and carries current company news. A search of that site and of the wider web found no page for this game and no address where it can be played. Press coverage from 2011 describes it, but none of it leads to a working copy.
With no official page that shows the game running, its status is unconfirmed. The prize contest ended in 2011.
Questions about the game
Who is Michel Desjoyeaux?
He is the skipper who coached players in the game. Dassault Systèmes calls him the world's most highly awarded solo sailor, and he has won the Vendée Globe twice.
Can the game be played today?
No working address for it was found in November 2026. Dassault Systèmes' website carries no page for it.
What did players learn in it?
Boat handling in different weather, how life on board a 60-foot racing monohull is organized, and how to plan a route that uses the wind well.
Did it need special equipment?
No. It was an online game, and a 3D television version existed for players who had that screen.