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Vendee Globe 2008/09
www.vendeeglobe.org/en - Übersicht
Wednesday 31st December – 1100 hrs
Gitana Eighty and Loïck Peyron safely in port
Symbolically it has taken until the last day of the year for Loïck Peyron to
reach terra firma… Three weeks after Gitana Eighty’s dismasting in the
Indian Ocean, the solo sailor has made it to Perth on the SW coast of
Australia, on the morning of Wednesday 31st December (local time). The
arrival is reminiscent of a deliverance as it brings to an end a long
delivery of over 2,800 miles, made possible by the installation of a jury
rig.
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A closely watched arrival
Accompanied by Dominique Wavre and some members of Mike Golding’s shore
crew, Olivier Wroczynski left the port at around 0700 hrs this morning,
local time (2300 hrs GMT), to link up with Loïck Peyron who was just a
stone’s throw from the coast at that stage. Half an hour later, Gitana
Eighty was in sight. Soon after that ‘Zolive’ (Olivier) hauled himself onto
the monohull to help the solo sailor with the manœuvres required to enter
port. At 0845 hrs (0045 GMT), in an overpowering heat – the thermometer
already bordering on 30°C that early in the morning – the monohull in the
colours of the LCF Rothschild Group came alongside in the commercial port of
Fremantle. From the minute they tied up and for three hours after that,
Loïck Peyron and Olivier Wroczynski were subject to various searches by the
Australian administration. The first of these, which was also the longest,
is referred to as the ‘quarantine’ and aims to track down any suspect
‘contaminated’ food so as it doesn’t come into the country. For this, two
people from the dedicated department were the first to climb aboard the
vessel to carry out a thorough inspection, going through and emptying
everything carefully and meticulously. After this the Customs Officials took
over with various and varied administrative forms.
With that settled, Loïck Peyron was able to join up with Dominique Wavre and
Mike Golding, they too suffering damage and ‘seeking refuge’ in Perth. It
was an opportunity for the three sailors to share their respective feelings
and discuss the terms of the repatriation of their respective boats. Indeed,
mid-January, Gitana Eighty, Temenos and Ecover will be loaded onto the same
cargo ship bound for Europe. This tricky operation, which initially consists
of detaching the keel and then positioning the hull onto a cradle
manufactured for the purpose of placing it on the cargo ship, will require
the presence of the shore crew until the date the cargo leaves port. As such
Olivier Wroczynski will be joined in the next few days by two other
technicians from Gitana Team.
Leaving Gitana Eighty in the safe hands of Zolive, the sailor from La Baule
very quickly headed for Perth airport – just four hours after arriving on
Australian soil – in order to get back to France and his nearest and
dearest. As a result, it’s not onshore but in the air that Loïck Peyron will
see in the new year…
As such, though 10th December marked the premature end of his race, today,
31st December brings this 2008-2009 edition of the Vendée Globe to a close
for this particular team. Indeed, with his arrival in the port of Fremantle,
a page has been turned for the skipper of Gitana Eighty. However, to date,
the sailor hasn’t yet come to any conclusions about what happened three
weeks ago to cause the mast of the monohull equipped by Baron Benjamin de
Rothschild to give way.
Gitana Team wishes you a very Happy New Year 2009!
Find all the latest about the Gitana Team at www.gitana-team.com
Photo credits: Yvan Zedda / Gitana SA
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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