The 41-year-old sailor on board her TSE-4MyPlanet crossed the finish line on 9E Vendée Globe this Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 07h 23 min en 24E position after 111 days 17 hours 3 minutes of running. Alexia, who has experienced physical suffering over the last three weeks of racing following a fall on her back, won an incredible Vendée Globe on an IMOCA launched in 1998. Marked by great moments of happiness, storms and calm, multiple adventures, the race of the Mediterranean navigator has always rhymed with determination.
This Sunday, under a bright sun, Alexia crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe. Welcomed by her team, her family, her friends and a large audience who came to cheer her on, the navigator did not hide her emotion throughout the climb up the Channel.
The realization of a dream
She is the tenth woman in the world to have completed the round-the-world trip nonstop and without assistance. However, this little woman left on November 8 last with a tight budget and an IMOCA that was more than 20 years old, the Penguin built in 1998 for Catherine Chabaud (Vendée Globe 2000). TSE-4MyPlanet knew the way after 6 rounds of the world and 4 Vendée Globe and Alexia Barrier did not hide her burning desire to realize her dream of a little girl in love with ocean racing and the oceans.
Committed to her primary objective of completing her world tour, and a competitor, Alexia is at the forefront of the last group, fighting against newer boats throughout the descent of the Atlantic. She also copes with guts: on Christmas Day, she thinks she is losing her mast due to the breakage of a bastaque pulley, later in the South Pacific, it is hydrogenerator problems and therefore energy problems that she must face. The sailor faced harsh, even dangerous conditions for more than 10 days as she approached Cape Horn. However, she shows a big smile on a daily basis: “I'm taking things on the bright side, I have an enormous chance of being at sea in the Vendée Globe” she regularly confides on vacation or in her videos sent from shore.
Love, Dare, Share for the planet
Committed to the preservation of the planet for a long time, Alexia also went on the Vendée Globe to help science and make the thousands of children attached to her project aware of the need to act. The navigator had thus embarked a Météo France buoy, an Argo float from the Unesco program and a CNES beacon for the Argonautica educational program, deployed in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans to help transmit information on the most remote places on the planet.
Throughout her career, Alexia Barrier has shown exceptional fighting spirit while sharing her immense happiness of being at sea for three months. Hats off Alexia!
” This arrival was just like the project, majestic, sunny, a beautiful allegory of life. You have to live with passion and this proves that self-sacrifice, courage and an entrepreneurial spirit can create such strong emotions. TSE is extremely proud to have supported Alexia. We will discuss with her the next steps and the dimensions of her project as soon as possible. ” Mathieu Debonnet, President of TSE.
” It was a very emotional arrival. Since November 8, we have gone through joys, fears, laughs and above all we have been amazed by Alexia's energy and tenacity. The entire Biotronik team followed Alexia's race every day and we are proud today to have enabled her to achieve her dream of doing the Vendée Globe. And we are delighted to announce that we are supporting Alexia until the next Vendée Globe in 2024! ”, Luc Cheminot, CEO of Biotronik France.
Alexia's times:
The navigator covered the 24,365 miles of the theoretical course at an average speed of 9.09 knots.
Its distance actually covered on the water is 28,170 miles at an average of 10.51 knots.
