Long night in La Rochelle

Mike Golding claims first victory for new Ecover. Alex Thomson gives his reactions

After a very long night waiting for the finish of the Defi Atlantique Mike Golding on Ecover finally crossed the line at 06:24:10 French time (05:24:10 GMT) taking 16 day 14 hours 24 minutes and 10 seconds to cover the course at an average of 10.34 knots.

Off La Rochelle there was an icy easterly blowing and Ecover was sailing under mainsail with two reefs and staysail.

In a dramatic finale to the Defi Atlantique Golding only reclaimed the lead two days ago as the boats were rounding Cape Finistere. At this stage Vincent Riou on PRB and Alex Thomson on AT Racing had opened out a small lead on the chasing pack, but the front runners stalled thanks to a high pressure system to their north. At this time the boats were heading upwind in light winds, conditions that Golding's new steed clearly enjoys. By the 1100 position report on 15 December Ecover was into the lead which she hung on to.

"I have an excellent boat which is easy to manoeuvre," said Golding as he hit the dock this morning. "I am proud and happy to see that the judgement we made have worked out. I'm happy for all the team. It is a great reward. I thank those who have helped me on this project."

The finish was equally significant for Alex Thomson on board AT Racing who finished at 08:24:10 exactly three hours after Golding. Annoyingly for Thomson he was beaten into third by Vincent Riou who finished 17 minutes ahead of him.

On board his board Thomson told thedailysail: "15 minutes - bastards. I sort of thought it would be more than that. I had an awful night - not having any wind instruments. I didn't sleep at all. I've had half an hour in two days as the wind was changing too much, and the pilots couldn't drive it at all. I took a reef out and the wind picked up, I put one back in again and the wind dropped.

"Overnight, it was very close, I took the option to go to the south and it looked like it was going to pay, but I got headed. I must have been within two miles of PRB all the time, but oddly I didn't see him."

This is Thomson's first ever solo race in an Open 60 and one which has seen him take the lead on two occasions.

"It has been a real eye opener for me, but also for other people. The only people who really thought I was capable of this are the people who really know me. I got nice emails from Nick [Moloney] and Mike [Golding] and from some of the other skippers. It is good to know I am where I thought I was."

Off the Cape Verdes Thomson took a flyer west to pick up the winds from a depression and then was propelled north at a rate of knots. In fact so fast was he sailing at this time that he was able to cover 466 miles in a day, a new solo world record (although to date still unratified) and some 30 miles more than the distance Roland Jourdain had covered in the boat - the unofficial world monohull 24 hour record.

Still buzzing from his adventure Thomson was having trouble coming to terms with the race. "It's really strange. I feel like I've just sailed from Portsmouth to Cowes. It doesn't feel like I've been at sea for 17 or 20 days or whatever it is. It feels normalish. I guess it'll sink in. For some reasons I felt I was going somewhere - now I've got here and I'm freezing!"

Thomson says he will come to terms with this: "It'll sink in. The record has sunk in over the last few days. It sounds silly - but I didn't win. I am really pleased for Mike."

On Sunday Thomson says he was in the cockpit and saw a boat in the distance at which point the satphone on board rang. It was Golding: "sorry to spoil your day Alex...!"