Topping the leaderboard 157 times and proving virtually unbeatable in the south. It’s a marked contrast to his first attempt at the Vendee Globe, which ended with dismasting only hours after the start. After that experience he didn’t return to the race for more than a decade.
Emerging from the inky darkness on his yellow hulled IMOCA to break the line at 23.45hrs 12mins on Wednesday 27th January, 04h 09min 25s after Charlie Dalin in what is the proving to be race’s closest and most hotly contested finish ever.
French skipper Charlie Dalin emerged from a damp, misty Bay of Biscay to break the finish line of the Vendée Globe, the solo, non-stop race round the world race, in first position and in doing so realised the ocean racing dreams of his youth.
At around 0210hrs UTC at a location in the South Indian Ocean some 360 miles north of the remote Crozet archipelago, Kevin Escoffier (PRB) was successfully transferred from Jean Le Cam's IMOCA to the Nivôse, a French Navy frigate.
Launching of the Imoca Corum L'Epargne after months of construction, on 5 May, in the presence of technical teams reduced to a minimum to comply with health regulations.