End of Vendee for this year.

Time flies when you're watching some of the most talented solo racers sail around the world. It seems hardly any time has passed since the November start of the Vendée Globe, the notorious singlehanded nonstop race around the world. But Alessandro di Benedetto's (Team Plastique) crossing of the finish line today at Les Sables d'Olonne, just 26 days behind winner François Gabart (the shortest-ever gap between first and last place), concluded the 2012-13 edition of the race.
Of course the skippers who spent anywhere from 78 to 104 days trying to keep their boats — and themselves — from falling apart over the 24,000-mile course probably feel differently. We watched as the fleet of 20 racers dwindled down to almost half, and a few of those were big questions marks until they actually crossed the line. There wasn't a mile of the course where any racer was safe from having his or her race ended in the most dramatic fashion — and dramatically is exactly how nine of them ended.

What makes this race so compelling to follow? It could be the unimaginable amount of courage each racer musters just to cross the start line, or the tremendous potential for disaster they face every moment of every day, or the intense competition between them, or the amazing sense of accomplishment we know each one feels as they cross the finish line. It could be any of those things, but it's most likely all of them. We fret for the racers, we bemoan their tragedies and we cheer for them all. We become invested in their success, because deep down a part of us wishes we were out there, too, sailing the open seas responsible for no one but ourselves.
You'll find our final recap of the race in the March issue of Latitude 38, due out on March 1. In the meantime, you can catch up on all the news at www.vendeeglobe.com/en.

Vendée Globe 2012-2013 final leaderboard
1- François Gabart (FRA/MACIF) 78d02h18m
2- Armel Le Cléac´h (FRA/Banque Populaire) 78d05h33m
3- Alex Thomson (GBR/Hugo Boss) 80d19h23m
4- Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA/Virbac-Paprec 3) 86d03h03m
5- Jean Le Cam (FRA/SynerCiel) 88d00h12m
6- Mike Golding (GBR/Gamesa) 88d06h36m
7- Dominique Wavre (SUI/Mirabaud) 90d03h14m
8- Arnaud Boissières (FRA/AKENA Vérandas) 91d02h09m
9- Bertrand De Broc (FRA/Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets) 92d17h10m
10- Tanguy De Lamotte (FRA/Initiatives-coeur) 98d21h56m
11- Alessandro Di Benedetto (FRA-ITA/Team Plastique) 104d02h34m

DNF
Marc Guillemot (FRA/Safran) lost his keel on November 10
Kito de Pavant (FRA/Groupe Bel) hit a fishing boat on November 12
Louis Burton (FRA/Bureau Vallée) hit a fishing boat on November 14
Sam Davies (GBR/Savéol) dismasted on November 15
Jérémie Beyou (FRA/Maître CoQ) keel jack problem on November 17
Zbigniew Gutkowski (POL/ENERGA) autopilot issue on November 21
Vincent Riou (FRA/PRB) hit a UFO on November 24
Javier Sanso (ESP, ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered) capsized on February 3

DSQ - Bernard Stamm (SUI/Cheminées Poujoulat)