Smiles for miles Finishers streaming in to Fort de France

And when they finished at the docks in Fort de France there was a succession of tired but radiant, smiling faces, exhausted but elated.

Seven finishes in one hour! 

Everything went a bit crazy on Tuesday. Bleu Blanc Planète Location (Quentin Le Nabour and Thierry Chabagny) had taken the lead in the chasing pack, crossing the finish line at 10:52 a.m. (local time). Then it was like being in the the middle of a leg of the Solitaire du Figaro, or a round the buoys afternoon race rather than scraps between skippers that had crossed the Atlantic and had more than 5,000 nautical miles under their belts.

In the space of one mad hour, seven duos arrived: Vogue with Crohn's (Pierre-Louis Attwell and Maxime Bensa at 11:34 a.m. local time), Italians Maccaferri Futura (Luca Rosetti and Matteo Sericano at 11:45 a.m.), Amarris (Achille Nebout and Gildas Mahé at 11:48 a.m.), Legallais (Fabien Delahaye and Pierre Leboucher at 12:02 p.m.), Ekinox (Benoit Sineau and Alberto Riva at 12:09 p.m.), Inland Roots Ocean Soul (Milan Kolacek and Pierre Brasseur at 12:22 p.m.), and finally Centrakor Hirsch (Mikael Mergui and Keni Piperol at 12:24 p.m.). Cor!  

The sailors just then savoured their arrivals, the joy of finally relinquishing the helm, forgetting watches, strategy, competition, and finally catching their breath. "It's great to be back on land, with friends and everyone," Robin Follin (Solano) remarked. "There's a lot of joy, pride, and emotion."

In their first words, the skippers reflected on this pleasure of finishing. "It's an exceptional arrival with all our friends around," smiled Benoit Sineau. "Being in the thick of the battle at the finish with more than five boats around us is truly intense!" Alberto Riva mentioned a J2 explosion, Mikael Mergui a problem with his satellite antenna, and Thimoté Polet "a lack of luck." And Mikael Mergui has a way with words: "The fight of the last 24 hours could fill a 600-page book!"

"It's crazy how much we had to overcome technically." Very quickly, as these initial comments unfolded, the difficulty of the adventure came up. "It was really very long, luckily there was some competition all the way to the end, it allowed us to forget everything," smiled Pierre Brasseur. "Even though it was very enjoyable, there were some difficult moments," emphasized Luca Rosettt. "It was anything but an easy race." "It's true that it wasn't always simple," agreed Achille Nebout. “We had technical issues, I had health problems, we weren’t always successful, but we persevered!” Those who opted for the northern route also had to fight rather than use the weather systems

“It’s crazy how much we had to overcome technically, especially since the sea state was so complex,” says Pierre Leboucher. “I felt like no matter what happened, we always had three fronts to cross!” “The northern route was really challenging, but we’re glad we took it and arrived so early,” says Guillaume L’Hostis (Alternative Sailing – Les Constructions du Belon). “This route was a unique experience; we encountered conditions we’d never faced before,” adds his co-skipper, Antoine Le Manchec.

Arrivals are also about finally reconnecting with loved ones. Achille Nebout and Pierre Leboucher quickly took their babies in their arms, rediscovering the tenderness of the embrace and the carefree joy of their glances. Older, Fabien Delahaye's two children quickly climbed aboard and seemed more interested in the coconut offered to their dad than in his words spoken over the microphone. At each finish, there were the applause, the hugs, and the embraces. They could all savor the simple joy of having given their all, right to the very end. This selflessness is perhaps their greatest commonality. Keni Piperol has a phrase that perfectly captures their shared commitment: "Throughout the entire race, we never gave an inch."