Nicolas Lunven: "I did not find the time long at all"

It's both. It’s very tiring because there are some periods where you would like to relax a little, but you know that there's a competitor not far away who doesn't want to stop. So you have to continue all the time and trim the sails a little bit more. But it's stimulating and motivating and also prevents you from falling asleep and getting bored in a routine. 

Although there were some difficult periods in this Vendée Globe, I did not find the time long at all in the southern seas. We were always neck and neck, although we did not agree to sail like this, like some might have thought, that's just how it happened and we were always fighting each other. It was very motivating, stimulating, and I thought it was quite pleasant. 

It was a surprise because I was not expecting to break this record, so it was stimulating and it’s great. At the beginning of the race, we had a great fight with many boats – I had a great time during the whole descent of the Atlantic.

On a boat you always have things to learn. First of all, I learned how to use the boat in terms of performance in the first part of the race because there was a good, stimulating fight at the front of the fleet, so you had to trim a lot. 

I learned a lot in how to manage the boat and how to repair and fix many things. I didn't have huge technical problems, but like everyone, there were small issues that happened every day. Michel Desjoyeaux said there’s one problem per day on the Vendée Globe, but he was kind of not honest because sometimes it's more than one per day. Sometimes at eight o'clock in the morning there are already three problems and the sun has only just risen, so you know it’s going to be a long day.

I was not surprised by this, but I had no experience of the Vendée Globe - it was my first one. But it did not surprise me because the lineup at the start was amazing – I knew it would not be a simple cruise where everybody is going to have their own rhythm. But in a way it's great because it was wonderful to have this intensity in the competition - it enabled us not to feel the time passing by and we were trying to push all the time and to take the best strategic decisions. 

No, my partner did not place too much pressure on me to finish, but it was actually a good objective that we had in common to finish this Vendée Globe. I have the same objective – I am a competitor, so I try to do the best I can, but in some conditions, in some parts of the race, the objective of crossing the finish line took over the competition objective and made me take more sensible decisions. It was good for me because I'm here today.