Continuing rough conditions across the Bay of Biscay have made this a long and stressful final week at sea for Armel Le Cleac'h on Brit Air. With winds averaging 35 knots (gusting to 45 in squalls) and 5 to 6 metre high waves on the beam, Armel le Cleac'h has chosen to sail cautiously towards the French coast, and the finish. Battling it out for third place on the water, Sam Davies, GBR (Roxy) and Marc Guillemot are also looking forward to finishing. For the moment, the advantage seems to be tipping back in favour of the French skipper, who has managed to get around the Azores high via the west. Sailing downwind in a 25-knot southwesterly wind, the VPLP-Verdier designed Safran was sailing at 15 knots boat speed, while Roxy was still tacking upwind close to the high-pressure area in fading winds. After the cool, calm delivery of Michel Desjoyeaux just over five and a half days ago to win his second Vendée Globe, Les Sables d’Olonne welcomed the rookie with a bite, Armel Le Cléac’h, who brought Brit Air across the finish line at 08:41 hrs GMT Saturday February 7 morning under perfect blue winter skies and a watery sunshine, to finish in a well deserved and highly creditable second place. A skipper just 31 years old, whose patience and prudence masks an innate predatory instinct and timing, which has seen him regularly succeed as runner up after other favourites have fallen, but he still admitted today that his mother worried if he had been eating enough.
