We have reached the point in our three-and-a-half-year campaign where we can make no more huge leaps forward, our options have been set out and decided, we must now double down and work on perfecting what we have, to ensure we, as a team, have every chance of realising the potential we have worked so hard to create over our first full time campaign.

It is Vendée Globe year and we have just nine short months until I line up with 39 other boats off the coast of Les Sables d’Olonne to take on the world once more.

I have always believed that one of the greatest things about being a human being is our ability to learn, develop and adapt throughout our whole lives.

How far did you meet your objectives for the race?

Pip: I think we did well, the objective was to get here in one piece, to learn about the boat, push quite hard and aspire to top 15 finish.

We have waited out the storm and tomorrow we are cleared to start the Transat Jacques Vabre 2023.

All the adrenaline has finally drained away and I am sitting in the subdued atmosphere of the press centre in Le Havre, surrounded by the slumped shoulders and tired faces of other IMOCA teams.