VENDEE GLOBE - Less than 50 miles to the northwest of La Corruna, Spain Alessandro di Benedetto on Team Plastique is now counting down the final miles to finish his Vendée Globe, expecting to cross the famous line off the Nouch buoy on Friday morning. The conditions for his finish will not be easy.

Di Benedetto had another demanding night with no sleep due to the variable winds which boxed the compass on several occasions – working all the way around 360 degrees – but also having to keep a wary eye out for the shipping traffic off the busy NW corner of Spain, a gateway from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and beyond.

Speaking this morning Di Benedetto shrugged off his lack of sleep and was very upbeat, enjoying the spring sunshine as the breeze picked up, and with it, his speeds directly towards his own home port of Les Sables d’Olonne where a huge welcome will await the very popular skipper who has stolen so many hearts over his 103 days at sea.

.Di Benedetto’s finishing miles, across the Bay of Biscay are likely to be upwind in a breeze which will build to over 25-30kts with some unpleasant seas. The Franco-Italian skipper explained to Race HQ this morning.

“ I have some wind now, 11-16kts of wind and so the boat is making between 10 and 12 knots of average speed. And I have some sunshine on my starboard side, also a lot of cargo ships. The night was a bit complicated then. I did not have any sleep and I had to make some time on the Code Zero because the wind was very light. And sometimes the wind came up and in from the wrong side and so it came round 360 degrees at times, several times I had to pay attention to this, and also to avoid the cargo ships. Now I am going a little more into the Bay of Biscay and so we will start to see more fishing boats and less cargo ships. Conditions are fine and I have just had my last rice pudding which I made yesterday with coffee and milk. 

So I hope to be in Les Sables d’Olonne, across the finish line within two days.
I really know the boat well now and can make small trim changes which I know will make one tenth of a knot of difference and it all counts. 

I feel great with the boat. I took some time to have a good relationship with the boat, but more and more I have felt better and better with the boat and I will be sad to step off. But I will see her every day at the marina in Les Sables d’Olonne where she lives.” 

VENDEE GLOBE - It looked like Saturday night, running into Sunday morning ,but it could still be Sunday night for the arrival of Tanguy De Lamotte (Initiatives Cœur) and behind him Alessandro Di Benedetto (Team Plastique) is already twisting in no wind.

The final act of the Vendée will test the two skippers still at sea. What to do? Where to go? How to get out? Di Benedetto is in hole and De Lamotte has one in front of him, with apparently no way round it on the way back to Les Sables. At 503 miles from the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne De Lamotte has little choice but to be patient in the face of this unwelcome calm and must just head east as fast as he can. After enjoying a few down of downwind speeds, his last 24 hours have been at a sedate 10.7-knot average and the gauge will continue to drop.

“My routing has me arriving on Saturday evening, I think that’s too late to go  directly up the channel, so it will be Sunday morning,” De Lamotte had written, perhaps hopefully, on Thursday morning.

But the routing is becoming increasingly complicated. The computer models suggest at the moment that he will be 80 miles from Les Sables on Saturday afternoon but that the wind will go so light and easterly. That would mean he would still get in on Sunday morning with the tides allowing him directly up the canal. But if it veers right and is more south-easterly, he could be looking at arriving on Sunday evening. It is not seem like fair news for his Initiatives Cœur campaign – the boat with a heart – to have on Valentine’s Day.

VENDEE GLOBE – From the finish line to the channel, Jean Le Cam’s 5th place 2012-2013 Vendée Globe. His overview of the race:
“This Vendée Globe was very difficult, especially towards the end. There has been very few good moments, but because they were so rare, they were exceptional. When you spend four days off the coast of Brazil so shaken you can’t have coffee or piss, the slightest calmer moment feels so great. The contrasts is the most important.”
On his popular on board videos

“Videos were made to share. You shoot one and then you watch them and you’re supposed to edit them. But I didn’t want to cut or remove anything, I kept it all, even if it cost more money in the end.”
On making Cape Horn where he capsized last time

“ Cape Horn was a great moment, of course, I was lucky enough to sail very close to it and to see the coast. It was part of my history in this race because that’s where I capsized in the past and of course you really remember that kind of thing.

He said that finishing the Vendée Globe at all is a victory

“ There are so many types of victories, regardless of the rankings. Participating in this Vendée Globe is one because a year ago, we had nothing. We worked hard and I want to thank my team for agreeing to take up the challenge with me, with so little means and so little time. Being here today is a victory. If that is not a victory, I really wonder what is.”
Et ……..Voilà, Le Cam’s stock phrase

“ I tend to say “voilà” (editor’s note: that’s it!) a lot. We use too many words and sometimes, it makes things more difficult to understand. It’s the tone that means the most.”
On diving to remove a net off the keel

“ When I found out about the net stuck in my keel, I knew I was in deep shit.  I tried many different things but I couldn’t find a solution so I decided to dive. I wasted a lot of time with that, because first I sailed at 12 knots instead of 15 or 17 and then I had to stop for several hours. But it feels so great when you finally take it out!” 
On being happy with his performance

“ Because we had so little time to prepare this project, I was even happier to be part of it and to be in the race. So of course it’s been tough, it’s been a difficult challenge, but that made me feel very comfortable with the project, and even happier. And I couldn’t have done better than 5^th, against people who have had sponsors for ten years and who have been training for four! I’m so happy with my performance!”
On winning the battle of the 50-somethings

“ I’m the first among the skippers in their fifties. I had thought about many possible titles or things to win, but not that. At one point I was stuck between two roastbeefs (nickname the French have for the Brits), it was like a reverse sandwich, where I would be the bread!”
Sailing or acting?

“ Between sailing and acting, it’s hard to tell which one I prefer. I love the performing arts, it’s what I do in my videos, in a way. And during that race, I got to do both!”
On his nemesis, Mike Golding

“ If I had finished behind Mike Golding, I would have been mad! I don’t even know what I’ll do tomorrow, so I can’t say when I’ll visit the school again. Already knowing your schedule for the next day is so boring…”
Highs and lows….

“ On the whole I like contrasts. Yesterday I was close to tears, with terrible weather, and today it all got better, and there were so many people to greet me. That made this race a true victory for me, a victory you, the public, gave me. When it comes to that, there’s no need for ranking, it’s my victory and it’s yours. I thank you for that.”
On the Videos 2.0

“ When I received feedback about my videos, it was all about figures and views on the internet, but it’s hard to say how it really impacted people. I have plenty left that I didn’t have time to send.”

Burnt finger
“ I have my finger in a plastic cup of cold water because I burnt my hand with one of the flares I used to celebrate. They keep telling us about safety, but this is ridiculous! Out there I could burn my hand, it would fall on the floor, set fire to my sleeping bag and eventually burn the entire boat!
Golding 2.0

“Finishing last wouldn’t have been a problem, as long as Mike Golding is even further behind! (He laughs).

On choosing not to train at Port La Fôret but to focus on working with a small team to prepare the boat

“ I chose not to go to the Port-la-Forêt training center and I think it was a good move because if I had been there, training with the “jet planes”, I would have been completely depressed at the start. It was such a smart decision.  And anyway, even if I had wanted to join them, I had no time and no money to do so. “
On his race story, value for money!

“ When you look at how things go one race after another, you realise there’s no choice but to have huge budgets and means to win the Vendée Globe. I’m in favour of making sure money and financial criteria have less impact in the world of sport. And because of that, maybe my 5^th place on this boat this year is even better than my 2d place in 2004-2005. What I know for sure is that it is a more beautiful performance this time, we’ve turned the race into a beautiful thing, along with the people who helped and supported me. We did something nice and we wrote a beautiful story.”

VENDEE UPADATE – Lifted off his liferaft by helicopter at 2340hrs UTC last night Javier Sanso, the Spanish skipper of ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered arrived to the Azores island of Terceira at 0330hrs UTC this morning. He was examined by a doctor in the helicopter who did not find any signs of hypothermia and at the military base in Terceira the Spanish sailor was further examined by doctors. At 0430hrs UTC Sanso made a call to Vendée Globe Race Direction to confirm that all is well.

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