'Where the Wind Blows… February 2009'
by New Zealand Marine Artist Jim Bolland

VENDEE GLOBE # TWO! VICTORY FOR MICHEL DESJOYEAUX

Arrival time for Michel Desjoyeaux was 16:11’08’’ French Time. Elapsed time is 84 days 3 hours 9 minutes and 8 seconds. He sailed 28,300 nautical miles at the average speed of 14, 02 knots for Michel Desjoyeaux who wins his second Vendée Globe (1st in 2000-01).

Desjoyeaux crossed the finish on Sunday 1 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 9 2008.

The gruelling race has taken a high toll of the 30 skippers who started the non - stop solo round the world race. As Desjoyeaux finished, nine were still climbing northwards in the Atlantic Ocean while some 7,700 miles behind two were expected to pass Cape Horn and leave the Pacific the following day. Eighteen skippers have been forced to abandon. In early December Yann Eliès had to be evacuated off his Generali when he sustained a broken femur while working on the bow of his boat, and Jean Le Cam was rescued by Vincent Riou, the 2004-5 winner of the race, when he capsized off Cape Horn.

Desjoyeaux said: 'It's incredible, this little ray of sunshine is making it magical. I may have done it eight years ago, but it's still incredible. I can't take it in. I have been two months trying to understand what's going on, how I'm doing it and so here I'm just enjoying it then we'll think about it afterwards. I never really worried about being behind. I won this Vendée Globe before the start with the choices I made, with the team and the experience I have built up.

‘I don't think I have been cocky. We've had rough conditions in the south but I felt I was at ease and enjoying it a lot, so everything feels a lot easier that way, not to be too hard on yourself and just keep going. Even on 25th December with my rudder problem, I didn't sit around crying about what had happened. Everyone knows the Vendée Globe is hard and it's only normal there aren't many of us finishing. It's the hardest race that exists, simply, so it's normal that there are not a lot of us left at the finish line.

‘Jules Verne had visualized 80 (days) and I think that's do-able even with our boats, so I think in four years it'll be doable. The world hasn't shrunk, but it is certainly possible to sail around the world in under 80 days, and it would have been possible this time without the ice this time.

‘I didn't manage to sleep last night.’