Desjoyeaux wins Vendee in record time

Michel Desjoyeaux crossed the finish line at 15:11 GMT today to win the Vendee Globe for the second time in a record time of 84 days (three days ahead of the previous record), averaging 13.2 kts over 28,000 miles, and accompanied in to port by a small armada of well wishers.

Looking at the boat on a live stream from Les Sables des L'Onnes, it's a big, broad triangular saucer with a mast. It's easy to forget when following this race that the participants are undertaking something which for part of my lifetime had never been done before.

It's easy to be blase about this, comparing boat speeds all the time, but the whole undertaking - keeping awake, dealing with solitude, undertaking repairs, trimming and all the rest is such a monumental task that anyone who gets to the end can feel justifiably proud of their achievement. To do all this at racing speeds while boat after boat crashes out of the race, is something else. This race is still one of the world's great adventures.


It must be an odd moment for all of those still at sea, particularly Raphael Dinelli and Norbert Sedlacek who are just about to round Cape Horn. They must be feeling a long way from home. But each of them will have their home-comings to savour and there can be nothing better.