After a long and difficult day, Thierry Duprey du Vorsent joined the rest of the Gitana Team at Pointe-à-Pitre. It amounted to mission accomplished for the Cancale man, as he had finished his first solo race. That said, he was really put through the mill during his last day's sailing, with the improvised repairs carried out on his mainsail giving way in the Canal des Saintes. Gitana 12 therefore had to finish the course with solent up amid an almost total lack of fairly unstable wind.
First reactions...
"I'm delighted to have finished, as these last few miles were really long and Gitana 12 was starting to resemble the Raft of the Medusa! I've been through some pretty surreal moments during this race and it's been an incredible experience. It took me a bit of time to get into my rhythm and I think I went a bit too slowly at the start due to my lack of solo sailing experience. It's difficult to learn how to tackle a race like the Route de Rhum but I'm really quite satisfied with what I've achieved with Gitana 12. My aim was to finish the race and here I am in Guadeloupe, so I'm happy!"