Vendée Globe: Dee-lighted

Yes! Dee Caffari gets her world record. Image copyright Olivier Blanchet/DPPI/Vendée Globe.

by Vendée Globe media

Dee Caffari's first words when she finished this afternoon:

On her finish today: "There were people there waving and saying hello and I thought that was pretty cool and then a random motor cruiser came up and shouted Go Dee! And I thought wow I’m close to the finish now. Then when everybody came out towards me… I knew there would be some Ribs and stuff, but this sight was brilliant and it’s such a gorgeous day. The sunset was beautiful and a lovely sunrise and I had dolphins, so I knew it was going to be a good day."

On finishing sixth:

"If you’d said that in the beginning, I’d have laughed in your face.

"I had an awesome start, then I made a few mistakes tactically in the Atlantic and the intensity of the race in the South Atlantic was just phenomenal. I sort of said, I’m not sure if I can do this. I was OK in the south, then I lost a bit of confidence in my first storm. Everybody was having lots of problems and that was when all the damage was happening and there was Yann’s injury and I lost all my confidence then."

Her race:

"Cape Horn was interesting. It was quite nice to hang out and know that the other two were with me. And I had an awesome Atlantic – I suddenly turned the corner and I’d grown into my boat. I did the repair on the main to keep it going a little bit longer. We just decided as a team to go for it and if it fell apart we’d deal with that later. I was really pleased to close the gap and then the Doldrums were a nightmare. A horrible two days, the worst two days of the race. I lost 300 miles to Brian in two days. Then I spent the North Atlantic closing the gap, but I just ran out of runway today. So I didn’t quite get him, but I’m happy to have pushed him all the way to the line."

On setting a new record as the first woman to sail round the world in both directions?

"That is so cool, isn’t it? I am so very excited, and I am really pleased, and pleased to do the job for Aviva, they have been great and to come in today in shiny yellow is very good."

On her learning curve in the Open 60, nought to 60 to sixth in 18 months?

“Literally I started sailing in an Open 60 eighteen months ago. In my first solo race I hated it and cried all the way and got dismasted right before the end. I thought, Oh my God! What have I let myself in for? But I loved this and have grown into the boat all the time.”

And your team?

"The reason why I’m here is that they did such a good job preparing the boat. I owe them lots of booze and I know I did them proud. They’re really chuffed with their project and we did it together. They did the boat and I just had to go and sail it and they’ve been there whenever I needed them."

Vendée Globe