The maestro is back. Michel Desjoyeaux’s victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre in his new Open 60 Foncia is a dazzling endorsement of his new Farr design and a talent honed by multihull racing in the years since he won the 2000/1 Vendée Globe. With this win, which he achieved without any outside weather routeing, Mich Des becomes the firm favourite once again.

Talking to Elaine Bunting about his boat in Le Havre, he said: “The boat has 150% more righting moment than PRB [the boat which won that last two Vendée Globes and is now Sam Davies’s Roxy]. The sail area is 15% more on a 2m higher mast for the same weight.”

“The safety factors are higher than we had on the other boats, but the boats are also more complex so we have to be very careful. We can break a lot of things if we don’t sail correctly. For example, two weeks [before the start of the TJV] we made a big mistake and nearly lost the rig.”

Read more about the man who has stormed back into the forefront of solo round the world racing on Elaine Bunting’s blog