Les Sables-d'Olonne (France) (AFP)

Coming from the bitter cold to experience his first solo round-the-world trip, the Finn Ari Huusela, the last competitor in the running, completed his 116-day journey on Friday, thus closing the ninth edition of the Vendée Globe.

An odyssey rich in adventures won five weeks ago by Yannick Bestaven.

At 58, Huusela (Stark) completed the legendary solo round-the-world tour without stopover and without assistance.

Arrived a few minutes after sunrise, this lifelong airline pilot ended the race with panache, becoming the first representative of the Nordic countries to finish the Vendée Globe.

He offered, very moved, a last great show to the Sablais, who came by the thousands along the channel.

He is the twenty-fifth and last of a fleet of 33 boats, which left on November 8, 2020 to face storms, the great loneliness of the terrible southern seas but above all a shipwreck and the perilous rescue that followed.

Without forgetting, a completely crazy finish with unbearable suspense.

"We would have liked to write a script like that, it was impossible before the start! It doesn't exist. And what doesn't exist is always captivating. Because we are so formatted and on things that have to happen. But what does not exist is the surprise, it is the adventure ", had told AFP Jean Le Cam, proclaimed hero of this Vendée Globe, after having saved the castaway Kevin Escoffier in conditions of Dantesque sea.

- The Cam the Savior -

This edition had already started in an unprecedented way.

The great popular festival had gone behind closed doors due to restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After a delayed start due to the fog, the focus was on the flying boats, called "foilers" because they are equipped with "foils" (lateral appendages which allow the hull to rise above the water. to get away at high speed).

Two of them were clearly the big favorites: that of the Welshman Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), as well as that of Jérémie Beyou (Charal).

But technical setbacks very quickly reduced their chances of victory to nothing: Thomson gave up in early December and Beyou had to turn around, barely gone, to repair.

He left nine days later, finishing 13th after 89 days of racing.

On November 30, the race experienced a tragedy.

Kevin Escoffier's (PRB) boat broke in two.

Refugee on his liferaft, he waited eleven hours for a savior.

It was Le Cam (Yes We Cam!), Confused like three other skippers to come and help him.

In the dark night and shaken by a strong swell, the sixty-year-old sailor managed to find Escoffier, whom he will host a week before a French Navy frigate retrieves him at sea. The Cam will be increased by 16 hours and 15 minutes. minutes for this rescue.

Yannick Bestaven (Maître Coq IV), who participated in the research, will receive 10 hours and 15 minutes of hourly compensation.

- Bestaven the winner -

And this bonus will make the difference at the very end of the race.

A short distance from the line, four boats could claim victory.

Never seen.

One of them, that of the German Boris Hermann, hits a trawler just before the finish.

Charlie Dalin (Apivia), who has been in the lead for much of the world tour, is the first to arrive on a damaged boat, after 80 days and 6 hours at sea. Bestaven, leader before being overtaken by a group of hunters after Cape Horn, crosses the line in third position.

Once his hourly compensation has been taken into account, he will be declared the winner in 80 days and 3 hours.

It's six more days than the previous edition but the weather conditions were a drag throughout the race.

"There were a lot of twists and turns in that race. Even in the last few days, when I no longer have any chance of winning, I come back to the forefront and, more than the podium, I snatch the victory" , Bestaven told AFP.

Of the thirty-three starters, eight have given up, which is not much.

In 2016, they were eleven out of twenty-nine who had to give up.

© 2021 AFP