PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 8th June 2006

FIRST STEPS ON SOLID GROUND
GIVEN A TREMENDOUS WELCOME BY EAGER REUNION ISLANDERS.

Having crossed the finishing line this morning at 10.21 a.m. local time, the lady windsurfer still had twelve nautical miles to do before reaching the town of Le Port in the northwest of Reunion Island.

It took almost 3 hours to arrive at her final destination. She did the trip partly under sail and was partly towed, escorted by a large number of yachts. Also among those accompanying her were the new French lifeboat  "Moïse Bègue", the patrol boat "La Rieuse", the Gendarmerie's (military police) boat, an IFREMER boat and passenger boats, filled with children shouting wildly.
As for the Mascareignes Club and the Le Port Yachting Club, they had mobilized all of their members to welcome Raphaëla in full sail.

The Breton lady, sitting on her board, did a lap of honour inside the waters of the West Port, towed by the French navy's inflatable dinghies. Then a guard of honour was organized between the two quaysides of the channel that links the marina to the Pointe des Galets, where her surfboard has been moored.

Raphaëla stepped onto Reunion Island soil for the first time as over 350 children from 6 primary and secondary school classes were gathered to see Raphaëla do a walkabout, after stepping onto the "welcome" pontoon.

She said a first few words for her family, so relieved to know that she's on firm ground again. This voyage has certainly been the most difficult of all her crossings, representing the greatest danger. She also mentioned that she would not be tackling any more oceans, since she had done this round of the oceans in her own way, but she said that she had many more projects, again linked to protecting the environment.

Message from the President of the Republic of France, handed over by the Prefect Laurent Cayrel.
President of the Republic                                                   8 June 2006
Dear Raphaëla Le Gouvello,
Having successfully crossed the Atlantic, the Mediterranean then the Pacific, you have spent sixty days at sea and crossed from the port of Exmouth in Australia to the coasts of Reunion Island.
You are the first person to have crossed the Indian Ocean on a surfboard, and I am delighted to send you my most sincere congratulations and express my admiration at this exploit.
 I should like to pay tribute to your exceptional courage and mental strength that you needed to lucidly tackle the uncertainties of this venture and to overcome "heavy weather" like capsizing, before arriving at Le Port.
The action that you have undertaken, thanks to the teaching kit to help the younger generations understand the great environmental issues of this new millennium, confirms your public-spiritedness and your responsible approach, which sets an example to us all.
  I include the whole team that accompanied you each day in your success and enabled you to meet this superb challenge, as I offer you my warmest best wishes.
Bravo!
A superb exploit!
It's fantastic,
Jacques CHIRAC