Four years of planning, hard work and investment, but much more importantly the very real chance of becoming the first British skipper to win the Vendée Globe were taken from Mike Golding in a matter of less a couple of minutes when he was dismasted on the 16th December only hours after taking the lead in an epic race which has gone on to account for the highest attrition rate since the 1996 edition.

The British skipper's reputation as the one of the quickest, hard driving skipper in the Southern Oceans was enhanced again as he continually worked the toughest, hardest miles furthest south, along with French skipper Jean-Pierre Dick.
Indeed the Nicois skipper was leading before he was forced to hand over the baton to Golding after his Paprec-Virbac II struck a floating object and damaged his rudder. Ironically that was the first time it happened. After detouring over 700 miles to repair it, Dick struck another object in the early miles of the Pacific and lost his good rudder entirely.
Golding takes little consolation that he is among a majority. Of the 30 skipper who started on November 9th, eleven weeks later there are only 12 left in the race.  The list of damage is quite remarkable, with no clear links or trends. Often, as with Golding and Dick, it is a simple case of wrong place at the wrong time. The ECOVER skipper was settled after long tough night in strong 40 knots winds, but had just set more sail after a period of stable, lighter winds. Under the circumstances, with the fleet pursuing him hard, he had no option but to be pushing, but he was well within the mean windrange for his sailplan when a rogue gust of 56 knots and a big wave knocked ECOVER sideways and almost literally uprooted the mast.
He was left with a 1000 miles sail, almost upwind to Fremantle, under a jury rig. With only ECOVER's boom and a staysail set to the bow, Golding was forced to tough it out, dealing with the huge disappointment of having to abandon the race and the need to make it to Australia under his own power.
It has been a cruel race. Just after Golding had to abandon, French skipper broke his femur whilst working on the bow of his boat. As the boat plunged into a big wave he was thrown off the bow, smashing his leg against the bow. Not only did he find the strength to pull himself back on board, but he struggled below to his bunk by the nav station. Stuck there and unable then to reach his medication only a further two metres away, it was only when his friend Marc Guillemot, a fellow competing skipper, arrived in the area, and encouraged him by VHF radio, that Elies was able to find the strength to reach some food, Coca Cola and painkillers. Forty hours after the accident he was picked off his yacht Generali by the Royal Australian Navy's ANZAC class Frigate of HMAS Arunta.
Off Cape Horn Jean Le Cam was capsized when the bulb fell off his keel. He was trapped inside his upturned yacht until he was sure that Vincent Riou, the winner of the last race, had arrived alongside him. Le Cam forced himself out of the escape hatch in the sunken stern of his boat, climbed on to the hull and was rescued at the fourth attempt by his friend and long time rival Riou. In his efforts to get as close as possible to Le Cam, the deck spreader of Riou's yacht struck Le Cam's keel and was badly damaged.
Only a very swift gybe saved the rig. And so the winner and second placed skippers of the 2004 race passed Cape Horn, the saviour and the saved, in the same boat. 250 miles later, with just 30 miles to go before Riou had planned a rendezvous to pass Le Cam on to another boat, and knowing there was a good chance of special dispensation to allow him outside assistance to repair his outrigger, the temporary repair gave way and the rig fell down on PRB. Riou's race was over too. Indeed of the skipper who completed the 2004-5 edition of the Vendée Globe, only Rapahel Dinelli, survives in 11th place of 12.  Seven: Golding and his British compatriot Alex Thomson, French skippers Seb Josse (BT), Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2), Le Cam (VM Matériaux), Riou (PRB), and Swiss skipper Dominique Wavre (Temenos), all were forced to abandon this Vendée Globe race.

Roland Jourdain, close on the heals of Michel Desjoyeaux, suffered a cruel blow in the Noth Atlantic 640 miles from the Azores, when after 84 days of racing he lost part of his keel - which forced him eventually to retire from the race.
Shortly after Jourgdains retirement, Marc Guillemot on Safran reported that he too had lost his keel but with only 1000 miles from Les Sables D'Olonne  Guillemot was able to nurse his Verdier/Lauriot-Prévost Open 60 to cross the finish line and secure a podium position.

British skippers Sam Davies, Brian Thompson, Dee Caffari and Steve White completed the 2008 / 09 Vendee Globe in respectable 4, 5, 6 and 8th position respectively.

Final Rankings:
 1  Michel Desjoyeaux
Foncia Finished at: February 01. 2009 at 15:11 UT - Elapsed time for course: 84 days 3 hours 9 mn. 8 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 28303.2 Nm. - Actual average speed: 14.0 KTS - Average speed over course: 12.30 KTS  
 2  Armel Le Cléac´h
Brit Air Finished at: February 07. 2009 at 08:41 UT - Elapsed time for course: 89 days 9 hours 39 mn. 35 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 27232.6 Nm. - Actual average speed: 12.7 KTS - Average speed over course: 11.57 KTS  
 3  Marc Guillemot
Safran Finished at: February 16. 2009 at 01:21 UT - Elapsed time for course: 95 days 3 hours 19 mn. 36 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 28401.2 Nm. - Actual average speed: 12.4 KTS - Average speed over course: 10.88 KTS  
 4  Samantha Davies
Roxy Finished at: February 14. 2009 at 00:41 UT - Elapsed time for course: 95 days 4 hours 39 mn. 1 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 27470.2 Nm. - Actual average speed: 12.0 KTS - Average speed over course: 10.87 KTS  
 5  Brian Thompson
Bahrain Team Pindar Finished at: February 16. 2009 at 08:31 UT - Elapsed time for course: 98 days 20 hours 29 mn. 55 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 28699.8 Nm. - Actual average speed: 12.1 KTS - Average speed over course: 10.47 KTS  
 6  Dee Caffari
Aviva Finished at: February 16. 2009 at 13:12 UT - Elapsed time for course: 99 days 1 hours 10 mn. 57 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 27906.9 Nm. - Actual average speed: 11.7 KTS - Average speed over course: 10.45 KTS  
 7  Arnaud Boissières
Akena Vérandas Finished at: February 22. 2009 at 14:35 UT - Elapsed time for course: 105 days 2 hours 33 mn. 50 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 27841.0 Nm. - Actual average speed: 11.0 KTS - Average speed over course: 9.85 KTS  
 8  Steve White
Toe in the Water Finished at: February 26. 2009 at 12:38 UT - Elapsed time for course: 109 days 0 hours 36 mn. 55 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 28197.2 Nm. - Actual average speed: 10.8 KTS - Average speed over course: 9.49 KTS  
 9  Rich Wilson
Great American III Finished at: March 10. 2009 at 12:43 UT - Elapsed time for course: 121 days 0 hours 41 mn. 19 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 28590.2 Nm. - Actual average speed: 9.8 KTS - Average speed over course: 8.55 KTS 

10  Raphaël Dinelli
Fondation Océan Vital Finished at: March 14. 2009 at 14:34 UT - Elapsed time for course: 125 days 2 hours 32 mn. 24 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 28140.0 Nm. - Actual average speed: 9.4 KTS - Average speed over course: 8.27 KTS  
 11  Norbert Sedlacek
Nauticsport-Kapsch Finished at: March 15. 2009 at 17:33 UT - Elapsed time for course: 126 days 5 hours 31 mn. 56 sec.
Actual distance sailed: 27706.9 Nm. - Actual average speed: 9.1 KTS - Average speed over course: 8.20 KTS 

Retirements
Roland Jourdain
Veolia Environnement Retirement: February 02. 2009 at 13:00 UT  

 Vincent Riou
PRB Redress Given  

Jean Le Cam
VM Matériaux Retirement: January 06. 2009 at 18:10 UT  

Jonny Malbon
Artemis Retirement: January 04. 2009 at 10:00 UT 

Jean-Pierre Dick
Paprec-Virbac 2 Retirement: January 01. 2009 at 15:36 UT 
Derek Hatfield
Algimouss Spirit of Canada Retirement: December 29. 2008 at 15:27 UT  

Sébastien Josse
BT Retirement: December 29. 2008 at 14:00 UT  

Yann Eliès
Generali Retirement: December 20. 2008 at 12:00 UT  

Mike Golding
Ecover Retirement: December 16. 2008 at 07:47 UT  

Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty
Maisonneuve Retirement: December 16. 2008 at 07:15 UT  

Loïck Peyron
Gitana Eighty Retirement: December 15. 2008 at 18:10 UT  

Bernard Stamm
Cheminées Poujoulat Retirement: December 15. 2008 at 17:03 UT  

Dominique Wavre
Temenos II Retirement: December 13. 2008 at 14:15 UT  

Unai Basurko
Pakea Bizkaia Retirement: December 07. 2008 at 13:34 UT 
 
Jérémie Beyou
Delta Dore Retirement: November 26. 2008 at 01:08 UT  

Alex Thomson
Hugo Boss Retirement: November 13. 2008 at 13:30 UT  

Yannick Bestaven
Aquarelle.com Retirement: November 11. 2008 at 19:20 UT  

Marc Thiercelin
DCNS Retirement: November 11. 2008 at 10:00 UT  

Kito de Pavant
Groupe Bel Retirement: November 11. 2008 at 09:31 UT 

For further information - please visit : http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ 

 
 

 
 

2004/2005
1 - Vincent Riou (Fra, PRB): 87d10h47'55''
2 - Jean Le Cam (Fra, Bonduelle): 87d17h20'8''
3 - Mike Golding (GB, ECOVER): 88d15h15'13''

2000/2001
1 - Michel Desjoyeaux (Fra, PRB) : 93d3h57'32''
2 - Ellen Mac Arthur (G.B, Kingfisher) : 94d4h25'40''
3 - Roland Jourdain (Fra, Sill Matines La potagère) : 96d1h2'33''
.....
7 - Mike Golding (G.B, Team Group 4) : 110d16h22' - 4th fastest time

1996/1997
1 - Christophe Auguin (Fra, Geodis) : 105d20h31'
2 - Marc Thiercelin (Fra, Crédit Immobilier de France) : 113d8h26'
3 - Hervé Laurent (Fra, Groupe LG-Traitmat) : 114d16h43'

1992/1993
1 - Alain Gautier (Fra, Bagages Superior) : 110d02h22'35''
2 - Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (Fra, Groupe Sofap-Helvim) : 116d15h01'11''
3 - Philippe Poupon (Fra, Fleury-Michon X) : 117d03h34'24''

1989/1990
1 - Titouan Lamazou (Fra, Ecureuil d'Aquitaine II) : 109d8h48'50''
2 - Loïck Peyron (Fra, Lada Poch) : 110d01h18'06''
3 - Jean-Luc Van den Heede (Fra, 36.15 MET) : 112d01h14'00''

 For further information - please visit : http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/