Raphael Dinelli had a sense of déjà vu when he crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe race on Saturday afternoon. Four years ago he completed the race in 125 days four hours. This time, his race round the globe on the same boat was also 125 days, plus 2 hours, 32 minutes.

Dinelli crossed the finish line at 1434 GMT. The early morning mist had long since cleared and he was treated to light winds and pleasant sunshine. Dinelli sailed 28,140 miles at an average of 9.37 knots.

As an official and unofficial entrant Dinelli is this race’s most regular skipper. He raced as a ‘pirate’ in 1996 when he took Titouan Lamazou’s boat and memorably was rescued from the upturned hull by Pete Goss after 36 hours lashed by waters of only 3 degrees Celsius. He came back in 2000 when he finished hors course after stopping in Cape Town to make repairs after he hit a whale. The last edition was his first fully successful race when he finished in 12th place in 125 days 4 hours.

His race has again proven his extraordinary durability. He has suffered for much of the course with tendonitis in his elbow, exacerbated by only having drinking minimal water supplies. When he stopped in the Falklands Islands to try and repair a halyards problem he was allowed to take on supplies of painkillers and anti-inflammatories.

In the Pacific he and Norbert Sedlacek ran alongside each other for several days, until the Austrian cruelly missed a weather system and was left wallowing in a high pressure area.

But the key message from Dinelli’s race has been publicising his campaign to run his Fondation Ocean Vital clean, using only naturally generated energy from his wind generator and his bank of solar panels.