Michel Desjoyeaux crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe on Sunday 1st February at 15:11.08 GMT , after 84 days 03 hours 09 minutes of racing.
Foncia completed the race in twenty knots of breeze under sunny skies, greeted by a massive armada of spectator boats before being warmly welcomed by huge crowds who gathered along the waterfront and harbour area of Les Sables d’Olonne, where the race departed at 12:02 GMT November 9th 2008.
When interviewed, he said the race was his from the moment he chose the boat and the support team to complement the enormous amount of experience he had built up.
Eighty percent of the end result is before the start of the race.
No, that wasn’t a cocky statement. It was a reminder that, supreme boat jockey though he may be, it was a team effort. And he, too had his problems – starting with a 40 hour delay at the beginning of the race after discovering, 200 miles out of Les Sables d’Olonne, an engine compartment drowned by a leaking ballast tank. When he restarted, he was 360miles behind the leaders, and unfavourable weather conditions eventually put him 670.3 miles behind Loïck Peyron before he started his inexorable climb back up the fleet.
Then the really heavy weather struck. Loïck Peyron, Bernard Stamm, Dominique Wavre, Yann Eliès, Jean-Pierre Dick and Mike Golding were knocked out of the race while Mich’ Desj’ calmly clocked up the greatest distance covered in 24 hours of the whole race – 466.6 miles in 24 hours on 16th December, the day when he crossed the longitude of Cape Leeuwin, and grabbed the lead.
From then on, only Roland Jourdain could stay within 100 miles of him as he rounded the Horn 2 hours ahead of Vincent Riou’s winning time for the previous race – having sailed 1150 miles further, thanks to the more northerly ice limits this year. He and Jourdain, pals since their schooldays, both seemed to be enjoying their battle – until the bottom fell off Véolia Environnement’s keel and ‘Bilou’ had to reduce sail, flood his ballast tanks and sail his 60 ft boat like a dinghy (without even a trapeze, as he wryly pointed out).
Bravo, Professeur! And here’s hoping Bilou succeeds in sailing all the way back to Les Sables d’Olonne as he so richly deserves after pushing so hard.
