PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 8th June 2006

GRAND FINALE,

60 days 2 hours 1 minute for a world first: crossing the Indian Ocean windsurfing solo from Australia to Reunion Island.

SUCCESS:
It is 10.21 a.m. (local time) (8.21 a.m. French time) when Raphaëla le Gouvello crosses the finishing line after 3541 nautical miles accumulated distance (3262 nautical miles by the direct route). Her average distance for crossing this ocean will have been 58 nautical miles per day (sailing and drifting included).

The French navy patrol boat "La Rieuse", which escorted the lady windsurfer during her last night at sea, sounded its horn as she crossed the finishing line opposite the Prefecture (Barachois Square) in Saint Denis.

Accompanied by the catamaran carrying Raphaëla's team and by a French national lifeboat, the lady windsurfer is fully savouring her final moments' sailing because the weather conditions are optimal.

With more wind than forecast during the night, a good, controlled drift and strong favourable currents as she approaches Reunion Island, when Raphaëla woke up at sunrise she was located fifteen nautical miles or so from the finishing line, to the east of the island.

The Breton windsurfer set out on Sunday 9th April 2006 from Exmouth in the North-West of Australia, and she has completed her series after crossing 3 oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.

Emotions will be running high in 3 or 4 hours or so, as she crosses the waters of the port at the Pointe des Galets (town of Le Port). A large crowd is getting ready to welcome their new heroine, this exceptional adventuress, whose arrival on this beautiful island carries a real message of hope.

HER CROSSINGS - SOME FIGURES
Raphaëla will have windsurfed almost 11 000 nautical miles, if we add up all her transoceanic crossings. The sailboard, built by Guy Saillard after her Atlantic Ocean crossing, will now have done over 8200 nautical miles. She did her first trans-ocean adventure in 2000 on a sailboard belonging to Stéphane Peyron (also designed by the architect Guy Saillard).

To see her position on the map, click here

Throughout the crossing, via the teaching kit, pupils will be able to discover many topics that mark the Breton lady's voyage, by surfing on the especially dedicated website: www.respectocean.com

Photos and video images of Raphaëla le Gouvello surfing are available on request. Contact us.