Arnaud Boissières, Double Whammy, AKENA Vérandas, eighth in the Vendée Globe 2012-2013

Arnaud Boissières on Akéna Vérandas set in motion a fantastic afternoon of celebrations when he finished the Vendée Globe solo non-stop round the world race in eighth place. He crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne at 13h11m02s UTC ready to make his way into his home port, the home of his sponsors and to berth at the Port Olona marina which is home to his IMOCA Open 60.

 

Olivier Blanchet / DPPI

 

His elapsed time for the passage which completes his second successful back to back Vendée Globe is 91d 02h 09m 02s, finishing 12 d 23h 52m 22s behind the race winner Francois Gabart and 22h 54 m 20s behind seventh placed Dominique Wavre.

His average speed on the theoretical course is 11.2kts, but in reality he sailed 24,478 miles over the ground at a real average of 12.6kts. Boissières finished the last race in seventh place in 105 d 2h 33 m.
Back to back
By finishing the Vendée Globe in eighth position joins the small group of solo sailors who have managed to finish the Vendée Globe round the world race twice, in consecutive editions. Only eight sailors have done that up until now.

Arnaud Boissières is among the privileged few competitors who, since the end of the 2008-9 Vendée Globe was able to carry on almost seamlessly into the next edition of the race. To do that he bought the PRB of Vincent Riou and so was able to train immediately and carry on to compete in the Transat Jacques Vabre and the Route du Rhum. Boissières soon got the measure of his new boat. His objective was to be perfectly ready for the start of the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe. In the meantime he moved from his home in Arcachon to base himself in Les Sables d’Olonne where his project has been based, the main town of Akéna Vérandas. He has become the Vendée mascot, the hometown boy.

A difficult rhythm
It was a difficult rhythm to find for Arnaud. He admitted it himself early in the race. His weather choices did not pay off and he struggled with the rhythm, the early pace which was set. He soon lost touch with the very leaders and Akéna Verandas was soon relegated to the rank behind the experienced Golding, Le Cam, Wavre trio.  The winds tended to favour the leaders in the early part of the course and Cali struggles with the speeds.

But slowly and steadily he gets back into the race. The Indian Ocean is not so good for him and there are small losses at the gates, struggling in the bad weather between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin. Thankfully for Boissières the Pacific is better for him and allows him to reverse the slide. His duel with Bernard Stamm after the Swiss skipper re-started from New Zealand, gave him a boat to measure against and to show that in good conditions Cali can sail at pace and hold his own on an older generation design. He got around Cape Horn in eighth place, actually having established the fourth best time across the Pacific of this race, just under half a day behind the record of Francois Gabart.

The Atlantic, stuck off Rio
Up the South Atlantic he faced a tough climb north from Cape Horn. He attempts to make it on one long tack close to the shore of South America but once on the latitude of Rio de Janeiro he struggles to extricate himself from a stormy depression and loses many of the hard earned miles he had gained back on this early option. From then on it is really Arnaud’s main concern to get back to Les Sables d’Olonne in one piece and record his second Vendée Globe result. He joins Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, Alain Gautier, Marc Thiercelin, Dominique Wavre, Mike Golding, Joe Seeten, Raphaël Dinelli et Armel Le Cléac’h

The race of Arnaud Boissières
- Biggest distance sailed in 24 hours: 443.79nm, 18.5kts average, 28th December.
- Les Sables – Equator : 13d 13h 58mn (record held by Jean Le Cam en 2004-2005 in 10j 11h 28mn)
- Equator – Cape of Good Hope : 13d 01h 00mn (record JP Dick 12j02h40mn)
- Bonne Good Hope – Cap Leeuwin : 15d 12h 15mn (record F Gabart 11j 06h 40mn)
- Cap Leeuwin – Cap Horn : 18d 06h 40mn (record F Gabart 17d 18h 35 mn)
- Cap Horn – Equator : 17d 04h 25mn (record F Gabart 13j 19h 28mn)
- Equator – Les Sables d’Olonne : 13j 11h 57m 28s

And the beat goes on......
Meantime it is getting easier for Bertrand de Broc. The skipper of Votre Nom Autour du Monde avec EDM Projets should break the finish line on Sunday evening. The high pressure ridge that has been in his way has passage has dissipated and left a straight ride into Les Sables d'Olonne. Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives-Coeur) continues to climb in the trade winds whilst keeping an eye on his repairs. And Alessandro Di Benedetto almost saw his Vendée Globe ending as a container ship passed within 100 metres  of his Team Plastique apparently with its AIS off and no one on the bridge.