After 121 days and 28,590 miles at sea, 48-year-old American Rich Wilson crossed the finish line in France on board his "Great American III" early yesterday afternoon.
Wilson, who had had to contend with constant headwinds over the last few weeks during the circumnavigation of the Azores, was very relieved and happy to have reached the destination harbour. The strain on the boat on the cross was enormous: "It's hard to describe how much the boat is abused on such a journey. Constantly accelerating on the waves and being slowed down abruptly almost feels like you're constantly involved in car accidents. But Thierry Dubois has built an incredibly strong boat. I often didn't believe that it could withstand this strain in the long term. But it did".
Rich Wilson's ship is the "Solidaires", built by Thierry Dubois in 2001, which had to abandon her first Vendee Globe in 2001/2002 prematurely due to electronic problems. She also failed to reach the finish line in her second Vendee Globe in 2004/2005 as "VM Matériaux" under Patrice Carpentier due to damage. It was an even greater success to finish the voyage without any problems. Especially as 19 ships have already had to leave the race prematurely.
Raphaël Dinelli is currently 470 miles from the finish, sailing at an average of 10 knots and is expected to arrive in the next 2 days. Sedlacek's shore crew has been on site in Les Sables d'Olonne since last Friday, preparing for his arrival. However, the Austrian still has a good 880 miles to go and expects to arrive around 15 March. He wrote on his website on Monday: "This morning at 07:30 UTC I passed Corvo, the most north-westerly island in the Azores, 5 nm to starboard. I then tackled the last waypoint of the Vendée with the rising sun! A great feeling, especially given the favourable weather conditions. I'm "jetting" towards my destination under GR2 GE1, i.e. practically full sail, and the only thing that bothers me on board is the annoying low-voltage alarm, which beeps constantly, because my batteries are obviously pretty worn out due to the frequent deep discharging. Apart from that, I'm doing well under the circumstances, I'm almost in a bit of an arrival mood, but only a bit, because I'm only through when I "cross the finish line".
It is remarkable that the Austrian is contesting the race with the oldest ship and the smallest budget.
Even before the last participants have crossed the finish line, others are already in the process of selling their boats. Derek Hatfield and Jérémie Beyou, who both had to give up due to broken spreaders, put their boats up for sale in mid-February after the failed race.
