A miserable, cold winter’s night did nothing to dampen the spirits of the thousands of spectators who waited patiently for the arrival of second-placed Jean Le Cam.

Sailing the one-year-old Lombard design Bonduelle, Le Cam crossed the line off Sables d’Olonne at 05h 22m 08secs GMT to take second place in Vendee Globe. Le Cam finished the race 6 hours 32 minutes 13 seconds behind Vincent Riou after 87 days 17 hours 20 minutes 8 seconds, with an average speed of 11.24 knots.

Three hours on at 0900 (GMT) Le Cam is still on the podium chatting to the crowds with seemingly not a care in the world. Commenting on the reasons why Bonduelle, PRB and Mike Golding’s Ecover are so much faster than previous Vendee boats Le Cam [insisting on speaking in English in practice for when his friend Mike Golding arrives later today] said: “It really is nothing more than incredible competitiveness between the three boats. We had our own battle and once ahead, we feed of each other’s speed pushing ourselves to the limits. There is no doubt these records will be broken again in the next Vendee Globe.”

The countdown is now on for Mike Golding on Ecover who is expected to arrive at approximately 1900 this evening. This gives a few hours for support teams and the thousands of spectators to take a break and warm up ready to welcome the British hero back to Les Sables d’Olonne in third place.