Isabelle Joschke finishes solo race outside the Vendée Globe
French skipper Isabelle Joschke of MACSF completed herround the world passage yesterday out of the Vendée Globe, sailing back into Les Sables d’Olonne 107 days 21 hours after the race start on 8th November.
Joschke was forced out of the Vendée Globe on January 9th due to a keel ram failure on her IMOCA 60, subsequently making a 10 day technical stop in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil to consolidate the keel problem with her technical team. But determined to finish the race and ‘close the loop’, she set sail again.
Reaching the pontoon in the Port Olona marina she said: “For me it was very important to finish this round the world passage. In fact I did not make the decision to start again right away. I had a lot of emotions throughout this round the world trip and especially during my damage. But when I decided to come to the finish, it became so obvious it was the only thing to do. It was so important to complete this story, to give it all its meaning and also to get me back on my feet.”
Until she was forced to abandon her Vendée Globe, Joschke was sailing a great race, comfortably inside the top ten and seemingly with the potential to climb higher and higher up the rankings. To finish in the top 10 was the original sporting goal for Joschke, who joined the IMOCA class in 2017, and she was well within that goal when she was forced to retire.
“I feel like I have been close to the worst and the best of the race. It was like looking in a magnifying glass and seeing a reflection of who and what I was in difficult situations seeing my reactions which I don’t always like, but also seeing my ability,” Joschke explained at her post finish press conference. “But really all the way through this project I was always looking at the future in a different way.”
But for now this determined sailor just wants “to enjoy my friends, my team, my partners. I just want to enjoy this sunny day, to feel and enjoy the stillness under my feet. Right now, nothing more.”
