The Artemis Transat, the race from day 11 to day 18

Day 11 - Storming along towards the gale
They're simply expecting to take a beating - the leaders of The Artemis Transat, whilst sailing fast in reaching conditions, are keeping busy preparing their boats for what will be the fiercest gale of the race. Calmly and very professionally, both Loick Peyron (Gitana Eighty) and Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air) have planned their sail reductions, carried out an overall check-up and are already witnessing a serious wind increase. The contrast could not be stronger with the second pack, desperately waiting for some breeze in order to cross the ice gate. "0 knots of wind and 0 knots of boat speed", reports a laughing Sam Davies (Roxy) in the morning!

Day 12 - The final battle just started
It's now a match race for towards Boston in The Artemis Transat, with less than 400 miles to go and the two leaders only some 20 miles apart in terms of distance to the finish. A figure that should be taken with caution, as Armel Le Cléac'h emphasised: taking into account wind shifts and final trajectory subtleties, Loick Peyron in fact approximately has a 60-mile advantage. Lighter winds expected off the south of Nova Scotia tonight may open the game... but the duelists today certainly remained very vague about their plans! The jury grants Loick Peyron 2h30 to compensate for the time and route loss induced by Riou's rescue.

Day 13 - History in the making
Expected tonight around 21:00 local time (4:00 GMT), Loick Peyron looks to be on his way towards a third victory on the North Atlantic, and should become the first skipper to better Eric Tabarly's performance. Still very concentrated when we spoke to him this morning, Gitana Eighty's skipper knows Armel Le Cléac'h is very close behind him, and one cannot expect a relieved smile on Loick's face before the line is crossed and left in the boat's wake. Of course, who'd blame him? Extreme carefulness is part of Loick's style, and the experienced racer knows better than anyone that... it's not over until it's over.

Day 14 - Peyron makes history, Le Cléac'h strikes hard
Having transferred Vincent Riou onto the race committee boat, Loick Peyron sailed Gitana Eighty across the finish line of The Artemis Transat in Boston and the Omega clock stopped counting at precisely 03:15:35 GMT this morning [Saturday, 24th May], claiming a third victory in the event as well as a new race record for this legendary sailor. Finishing 7 hours and 43 minutes later (taking into account Loick Peyron's 2.5 hour time allowance), Armel Le Cléac'h aboard Brit Air brilliantly captured second place, proving he's definitely a force to be reckoned with. "It takes a beautiful second to make a great winner," once said a certain Mr Peyron at the end of a grueling multihull round-the-world race in 2001, and he certainly would approve of us using that phrase in order to comment on Armel Le Cléac'h's finish.

Day 15 - Yann Eliès completes the podium
Greeted by race winner Loick Peyron, second-placed Armel Le Cléac'h and "clandestine passenger" Vincent Riou, who had been replaying the race while waiting for him, Yann Elies was radiant when his boat came to a stop alongside Rowes Wharf at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Happy, but also relieved, the Breton skipper could finally celebrate, after having lived the last 36 hours at sea under a Damocles sword. Would the mast hold until the end? Fortunately, his third position was not at risk, but to add insult to injury, the wind completely dropped 15 miles before the finish line. Doing less than 1 knot of boat speed at 22:00 local time (02:00 GMT), Yann saw the wind come back very discretely - less than 5 knots - but right on the nose. Good for fishing, would have said Jean-Luc Nélias, but certainly not for sailing. The feeling of relief was visibly intense onboard Generali when the finish line was finally crossed at 04:00:22 GMT (0:00:22 local time).

Day 16 - Hard Rock Guillemot takes 4th, British mermaid Sam Davies 5th
This morning at 10:18:47 GMT Marc Guillemot on Safran crossed the finish line of The Artemis Transat in a time of 14 days, 21 hours, 18 minutes, 47 seconds. A well-earned and hard-fought for place after breaking a rib on the third day of the race, and sailing the rest of the course in considerable pain. This now leaves six IMOCA 60s, out of the 13 starters, to finish this gruelling solo transatlantic race, and leading this second pack is Samantha Davies on board Roxy. Samantha Davies represents Britain's first finisher in the race, and arrives in Boston shortly before midnight, claiming 5th place.

Day 17 - A franco-French match race, and a second Brit safely homeA few hours after Sam Davies, Yannick Bestaven (Cervin ENR) and Arnaud Boissieres (Akena Vérandas) crossed the finish line of The Artemis Transat in 6th and 7th place respectively. These two French skippers who are close friends, had been embroiled in an intense duel and only 1.5 hours separated the two sailors at the end of nearly 16 days racing. Dee Caffari onboard Aviva crossed the finish line of The Artemis Transat at 15:05:34 GMT (11:05 local time) - the second Briton (after Samantha Davies last night) to complete the solo course. In her first solo race on board her new IMOCA Aviva, Caffari arrived in Boston after 16 days, 2 hours, 5 minutes and 34 seconds.

Day 18 - Steve White completes the IMOCA results table
Steve White onboard Spirit of Weymouth crossed the Boston finish line of The Artemis Transat at 04:04:54 GMT (midnight local time) in 9th place in a time of 16 days, 15 hours, 4 minutes and 54 seconds, completing the IMOCA results table. Nine of the 13 starters have completed the 2,982-mile solo course and White's achievement stands out for his sheer determination and obvious passion for the sport.

Complete and final results - IMOCA 60
1- Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty) Saturday 24 May - 3h15'35'' UTC in 12d 11h 45' 35 (including 2h30 jury redress)
2- Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air) in 12d 19h 28' 40'' - 7h 43' 05'' after the winner
3- Yann Eliès (Generali) in 13d 15h 00' 22'' - 1d 3h 14' 47'' after the winner
4- Marc Guillemot (Safran) in 14d 21h 18' 47'' - 2d 9h 33' 12'' after the winner
5- Samantha Davies (Roxy) in 15d 10h 00' 51" - 2d 22h 15' 16" after the winner
6- Yannick Bestaven (Cervin EnR) in 15d 14h 31' 17'' - 3d 02h 45' 42" after the winner
7- Arnaud Boissières (Akena Verandas) in 15d 16h 00' 03" - 3d 04h 14' 28" after the winner
8- Dee Caffari (Aviva) in 16d 02h 05' 34" - 3d 14h 19' 59" after the winner
9- Steve White (Spirit of Weymouth) in 16d 15h 04' 54" - 4d 03h 19' 19" after the winner
Race Awards
Total prizemoney 75 000 Euros (split between the skippers according to final ranking, race gate prizes and media prizes)

Winner, Loïck Peyron: 25 000 Euros
Omega Eddystone Race Gate: Loïck Peyron, wins an Omega Seamaster watch - elapsed time between the startline and the Eddystone lighthouse: 1h16'17"
GH Mumm Lizard Point Race Gate: Loïck Peyron, wins his height in champagne - elapsed time between the Eddystone lighthouse and the Lizard: 3h40'43"
Fastnet Race Gate: Sébastien Josse - elapsed time between the Lizard Fastnet 14h17'
Musto Newfoundland Race Gate Trophy: Loïck Peyron wins the Musto trophy - elapsed time between the Fastnet longitude and Cape Race longitude 8j13h03'
Race Gate 5 from Newfoundland to Boston: Loïck Peyron wins a magnum of champagne
Omega 24 hours distance record: Yann Eliès wins 5 000 ^ and an Omega Seamaster watch, with 376 miles covered in 24 hours.

Media Awards
Best e-mail content: Steve White
Best photo content: Armel Le Cleac'h
Best video conferences: Sam Davies
Best video sent back from boat: Dee Caffari
Live Skipper Game Podium
1st Olesa : arrived on 25 May 2008 at 22:40:18s (GMT)
2nd Lekeye: arrived on 26 May 2008 at 01:00:19s (GMT)
3rd Andressr: arrived on 26 May 2008 at 01:00:19s (GMT)