For the final few miles Armel Le Cléac’h was no longer alone, as he and Banque Populaire VIII were joined by a flotilla of small craft for the ride to the finish line of the Vendée Globe. He looked calm and relaxed as he headed to towards the French coast. While Alex Thomson has battled technical problems for most of his way round the Earth, if Le Cléac’h had encountered any difficulties, he had kept them to himself.
He passed the finish line outside Les Sables d’Olonne at shortly before 5pm local time yesterday, 74 days, three hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds after he set off, knocking nearly four days off the record set by François Gabart in the most recent edition of the race four years ago.
Le Cléac’h had finished second to Gabart, having occupied the same place four years earlier; he must have thought that victory was overdue.
The task for Thomson, aboard HUGO BOSS, eventually became too much. Severely handicapped by losing a foil after two weeks of the race, his wind instruments failed, his autopilot was on the blink, he struggled to locate other craft and his boat became difficult to control at high speed.
He made one final gamble, tacking to the finish far ahead of Le Cléac’h in the hope that the wind would unexpectedly change. It didn’t and the Frenchman’s lead grew and grew.
Advertisement
Having been as close as 33 nautical miles behind on Wednesday evening, Thomson finished this morning 16 hours behind - well short of Le Cléac’h but still more than 500 nautical miles in front of Jérémie Beyou, in third.
“This is a dream come true,” Le Cléac’h said as he fought back tears. “Today is the perfect day. I’m very happy for Alex, it’s a great second place. It has been very difficult with him behind me, he gave me a really hard time.”
When they left the west coast of France on a balmy November 6 day, 600,000 people came to see them off. The return is more low key. Signs in many of the closed bars and restaurants that surround the port revealed that they had not opened their doors since Le Grand Départ. Sub-zero temperatures, coupled with a bitter wind off the Atlantic Ocean meant those that turned out to welcome back Le Cléac’h were dressed for a Polar expedition.
Thousands did brave the conditions, and Le Cléac’h lit flares to wave to the crowds as he made his way along the canal between the port and the ocean. He had finished in daylight, but was left on the ocean doing interviews before darkness fell and provided the proper ambience for his arrival.
This is a race like no other and everyone who embarks on this challenge is given due respect. Among the pictures of present and former participants in an exhibition in the race village are those of Nigel Burgess and Gerry Roufs, who were lost at sea during early editions of the race. The safety aspects of the boats have improved but the risks are still very real.
Advertisement
Le Cléac’h looked calm and relaxed in the videos he sent home, while his rivals looked increasingly troubled by sleep deprivation. The only time that Le Cléac’h seemed close to cracking was when Thomson closed him down on the race up the Atlantic.
At Cape Horn, Le Cléac’h had a two-day advantage, but as Thomson closed the gap in the doldrums, Le Cléac’h complained that he was “at the limit of his understanding of the weather”. He extended his lead coming out of the light airs and that proved decisive.
Le Cléac’h a winner at last
He revealed it had not been so straightforward. A broken rope prevented him from raising one of his sails in the Pacific, while he became increasingly stressed as Thomson closed on him. “If I look fine now, it’s because I’m happy to have won, but it has been tiring,” he said. “There were times when I felt everything was going against me.”
Banque Populaire VIII has already been sold and Le Cléac’h is unlikely to defend his title. “That’s three Vendée Globes in a row for me, the dream has come true, so now I’m moving on to something else,” he said.
Last night Thomson was close enough that he could have probably seen the fireworks in the distance that greeted Le Cléac’h. It was Thomson’s fourth Vendée Globe. After two abandonments, he finished third in 2013 and surely would have won here with a trouble-free voyage. Thomson is not one to curse his luck, however. He can reassure himself that this was his fastest boat, that he arguably has the strongest team and if he returns in four years’ time, he will probably be the favourite.