Regatta: Vendée Globe: Tripon in luck, the first female skipper in sight

Armel Tripon finished the Vendée Globe in eleventh place and was celebrated like a winner at the finish line. The 45-year-old skipper from Nantes has fulfilled a childhood dream by completing the course around the world despite technical setbacks. It took a quarter of a century for the "L'Occitane en Provence" skipper to realise his plan together with Sam Manuard, his best friend from his Mini days. Now he has arrived and can hardly believe his luck. The extremely likeable skipper was already nicknamed "The Lucky One" during the race. Hardly anyone knew how to take something positive out of every day at sea like him, how to savour the moment and face even the darkest hours with a smile. His magnificent race to catch up after early technical problems right after the start and a masterful comeback (from 32nd place) led Tripon to eleventh place - an outstanding maritime achievement.

Tripon's Manuard design, which was christened just a year ago, proved to be technically vulnerable without taking part in intensive test regattas and with only 7,000 nautical miles completed before the start of Tripon's Vendée Globe premiere, but also very fast and ultimately reliable to the finish. His skipper will be fondly remembered for his performance, but also as a master storyteller, as will his characteristic mischievous smile. The race ended for Tripon on 2 February with a final storm, "the toughest 48 hours of the entire race", as Tripon himself described the experience. The Bay of Biscay showed the father of three eagerly waiting sons ashore his teeth and demanded everything from the Imoca yacht "L'Occitane en Provence" on the home straight. Tripon finally crossed the line after 84 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes and 50 seconds of racing.

This is how "L'Occitane en Provence" skipper Armel Tripon was welcomed in Les Sables-d'Olonne

Armel Tripon: "The sea was white!"

At the welcome party on the dock, Tripon reported - smiling, of course - how tough this last test had been: "When I came back into the Bay of Biscay, I had to deal with gusts of over 50 knots. The sea was white. It was very brutal. But I also say that because it's a gift to be able to experience and see that. The light was crazy. And as soon as I could find a little mouse hole with a little less wind and waves, I headed for it. They were the strongest winds I experienced during the entire race. You have to travel all the way around the world to find out that there are some really bad sections right on your doorstep." Tripon also explained how he was able to overcome the setbacks at the start: "I worked with a mental coach for two years. At the centre of it was the idea that this race around the world would end up being full of unexpected events that we would have to deal with. Fortunately, I dealt with this aspect in depth, because I had a problem on the second day of the race. But overall it was a lot of fun, very intense." If you could bottle positive energy, Armel Tripon's would probably make you rich. During this race, he mostly looked like the sun that his sponsor had painted on his boat and is now thinking about a comeback.

Clarisse Crémer: "Boris' story gave me a shock"

After Tripon, who crossed the finish line on Tuesday, "Banque Populaire X" skipper Clarisse Crémer is expected to be the first female skipper to cross the finish line today. Following the withdrawals of Sam Davies (after a UFO collision) and Isabelle Joschke (with a broken keel suspension), the young 31-year-old economist took over the baton as the best woman in the race on her debut. The refreshing and clever former runner-up in the Mini-Transat is expected to finish in twelfth place. If she arrives safely, Crémer will break the 20-year-old record of Ellen MacArthur, who finished the 2000/2001 race in second place after 94 days and 4 hours and is still the best female skipper. However, Clarisse Crémer will also first have to withstand the stormy Bay of Biscay conditions, which had previously turned Armel Tripon's home stretch into a mogul slope. Crémer said: "Boris' story gave me a shock. I will have to be on the lookout until the finish. I crossed shipping lanes and there was a lot going on. I also had to slow down at one point to let a container ship pass. I can see them on the AIS, so everything is OK at the moment." Clarisse Crémer continued: "It's not going to be easy to slow down in 30 knots of wind. So I think I'll be sailing with three reefs."

Boris Herrmann in the current sports studio

Vendée Globe fifth-placed Boris Herrmann, who moored back in his home port of Hamburg with his family on Sunday night, is currently in quarantine and fulfils the planned requirements, which were initially difficult to determine. It is now clear that if Herrmann can present another negative test result on 5 February, he will be a guest on ZDF's Aktuelle Sportstudio on the evening of 6 February and will draw the DFB Cup quarter-final matches on ARD's Sportschau the following day. Further talk show visits are planned for the following week.