Relief

Eric Drouglazet first to cross finish line of the Figaro's singlehanded Trophée BPE

At 19:18:49GMT last night Eric Drouglazet and his 32ft Beneteau Figaro 2 one design Credit Maritime-ZeroTwo finally crossed the line off Cienfuegos, Cuba to win the Trophée BPE from St Nazaire, France.

Drouglazet, 37, covered the 4,265 mile course non-stop via a waypoint in the Azores in a time of 25 days 7 hours, 10 minutes and 49 seconds at an average of 7.02 knots. After staying up with the leading pack since the start, 'Droug' took over the lead from Bostik's Charles Caudrelier at 0500GMT on 16 April. His win was despite not having satellite communications for the last 12 days of the race, severely limiting the weather information he was able to discover on board (in the race routing was prohibited, but internet access was allowed).

Arriving in Cienfuegos on the south side of Cuba, Drouglazet, exhausted, received an enthusiastic welcome. Although the Clipper Round the World race has stopped in Cuba, this is the first time a singlehanded race has ever stopped there.

In winning the Trophée BPE Drouglazet becomes the first navigator to win a transatlantic race in Figaro one design. He adds this win to his first place in the 2001 Solitaire du Figaro in 2001 when he was skipper of Trégunc (Finistère).

Drouglazet was followed by Charles Caudrelier on Bostik, who hung on to second place crossing the line at 23:56:00GM with a time of 25 days 11 hours and 48 minutes, just 4 hours 37 minutes and 11 seconds after Drouglazet.

Less than an hour later at 00:52:15GMT Gildas Morvan on Cercle Verte arrived to take third place. He was followed by Dominique Vittet on ATAO Audio System who crossed the finish line in front of the Nautical Club of Cienfuegos at 02:19:01 to take fourth place

Skandia's Sam Davies was the first woman to finish, taking fifth place and crossing the line 8 hours 11 minutes and 31 seconds after the race winner. Sam's passage time was 25 days 15 hours 22 minutes and 20 seconds.

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