Nicolas Rouger crossed the finish line of the twelfth edition of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe on Monday 28th November at 17 hours 32 minutes and 42 seconds local time (22h32 42' metropolitan time). The skipper of Demain c'est loin finished 33rd in the IMOCA class with a race time of 19 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes and 42 seconds.

He finally finished 34th after the compensation hours attributed to Oliver Heer. Nicolas Rouger sailed the 3,542 miles of the course between Saint-Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre at a speed of 7.63 knots on the great circle route (the direct route). The skipper actually covered 4,777.08 miles at an average speed of 10.29 knots. He arrived in Pointe-à-Pitre 7 days 14 hours 41 minutes and 17 seconds after the winner of the IMOCA Class, Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut).

Nicolas Rouger's reaction

"Since crossing the finish line, I've forgotten all the problems. I'm really happy, it was great, incredible. I've learnt a lot of things, I've reassured myself because I had a lot of complexes, I'd never sailed a headsail solo on this boat for example. The first few days, I wasn't very reassured, then little by little I gained confidence. It was a big first for me. I'm going to have to work harder to improve. I am very well surrounded. My objective was really to bring the boat here, the race was secondary, I had no pretensions of result. In the middle of the crossing, something clicked, I saw that the boat was nice. I got into the regatta game but it was too late. I would have liked to compete with the others. At the end I came back on Rodolphe Sepho, I would have liked it to last 4-5 days longer. The end of the race seems long when you are alone. These boats are so amazing that it takes a little time to understand them. This afternoon I thought I was going to dismast because I lost my gennaker... You have to be careful. It's me who has to make progress. I'm going to take the boat back to France with people who know the boat well and who will pull me up. I'm going to listen to all the advice on this return trip. There will be the Transat Jacques Vabre next year. I can see the things I need to improve on the boat. I still don't realise that I've finished the Route du Rhum in the IMOCA class. It's been hard work to get to this point. I'll have to digest all that."