Rich Wilson nears Vendee Globe finish line

by Vendee Globe media on 10 Mar 2009
Rich Wilson, aboard the Great American III, is expected tomorrow at 13h00 French Time (12h00 GMT). He will go up the canal after crossing the finish line.

He’ll arrive in ninth position of this edition of the Vendée Globe, also being the lone American of this race and only the second to complete the Vendée Globe.

With 160 miles direct to Les Sables d’Olonne, in fact closer to 180 miles as he is sailing downwind, Rich Wilson is now expected to finish his Vendée Globe in the early afternoon of Tuesday.

The American skipper sounded tired and frustrated when contacted this morning;

'I have an eighteen foot swell, am making less than five knots and heading towards Port La Foret. This swell is knocking the bejaysus out of the boat at the moment' said Wilson.

Since then he had picked up some speed and has been averaging just over eight knots. He is looking foward to a meal of scrambled eggs, bacon and sliced potatoes and a glass of milk when he gets back to shore, where his sisters and friends are eagerly waiting his arrival.

Tide times are such that he would be unable to enter the channel until about 1330hrs in the afternoon. Having taken 43 days from Cape Horn, Wilson will be hugely relieved to get finished and has been dealt a very difficult set of cards by the weather, virtually since Cape Horn.

Raphael Dinelli is 530 miles NW of Cape Finisterre and has been averaging over 11 knots, some 500 miles west of Les Sables d’Olonne. The local Sablais skipper will be given a big welcome when he arrives, perhaps Thursday or more likely Friday.

And Norbert Sedlacek is the quickest of the trio still at sea, sailing at between ten and eleven knots. He is 120 miles past the Azores now and has 1380 miles to finish. Interest in his race has grown significantly in his native Austria as he will become the first Austrian skipper to sail solo non stop around the world.

www.vendeeglobe.org