Jonny Malbon

12 Jan - Jonny arrives in Auckland

After a long and frustrating passage to New Zealand after having to abandon the Vendee Race, Jonny finally arrived in Auckland last night (GMT) and early Monday morning NZ time. Headwinds, sometimes strong and tough sea conditions made fort a slow passage, but time to reflect on the previous 60 days.  Now reunited with the Team, and after a few cold beers, there will be time to evaluate the condition of the boat and to decide on the way ahead, in the short term, and for the coming season.

The ARTEMIS site carried the following blog from Gringo

“Now with only a few miles left to sail, Jonny is on his final approach into Auckland, which will sadly be the resting place for his 2008 Vendee globe dream after 63 days at sea (52 of racing). It is a very emotional time for everyone in the team, not least for Jonny himself. Having got himself into 12th place in the race, he had out-lasted some of the great names in solo ocean racing, only to be let down by something which was totally out of his control, one of the most difficult things to come to terms with: especially as he had looked after the boat so well, encountering relentless boat breaking conditions of the Southern Indian Ocean.

As far as we on Jonny’s shore team are concerned, we are proud of his achievements in this race. He has exceeded all expectations, not just by making it to the start line, but getting this far, and I’m sure you will join us in giving him a big pat on the back, and a warm welcome home!

All being well, we will rendezvous with Artemis at Rangitoto Island at approx 7.30 – 8.00 am local New Zealand time, and have him safely alongside, in Auckland’s famous Viaduct at around 11am (10pm GMT).

From there we will begin the job of debriefing, before we focus on moving forward with the campaign, and next season’s program.

But first we have an evening’s relaxing for him, which I’m sure will involve a nice big steak & chips and a couple of beers!
 

Cheers, Gringo”