The Transat–Desjoyeaux Wins: Last night, as evening was just starting to settle on Boston Harbor, a 60-foot trimaran emerged from the haze, blasting along at 23 knots to cross a finish line. At the helm was “The Professor,” who completed the 2800 mile solo voyage from Plymouth in 8 days, 8 hours, at an average speed of 13.61 knots. Desjoyeaux put up the race’s biggest 24 hour run (440 miles) and his overall time smashed the existing race record by almost two days. He led almost the whole way, despite such horrific conditions that he complained he was “too old” (he’s 38) for the sort of pounding he was taking. Yeah, right. By winning The Transat, Desjoyeaux becomes the first sailor ever to complete the triple crown, winning the three most coveted solo races: the Vendee Globe, the Route De Rhum, and The Transat. In other words, he’s possibly the best solo sailor ever.

Back out on the ocean, the 60-foot monohulls are continuing to duel boat for boat, and should arrive at the weekend. And Our Man Joe (Harris) has been passed again in the 50-foot class by Kip Stone. If you want to know how grueling this race is, consider this: Harris sent a report in yesterday in which he said that he hadn’t been in his bunk once over the course of this race. Not once. And he’s got a lot of hard upwind sailing to come. There’s no doubt about it: solo sailing is just about the physically demanding sport out there, on a par with the Tour De France…



Desjoyeaux Finishes: “Thank God. This race is hard enough, but sailing all this way standing on one leg…”

(Photo: Benoit Stichelbaut/DPPI)