It's all over. Time to start again.

As the last participants arrive in Pointe-à-Pitre, the skippers will be turning their thoughts to what comes next.

During the official post-race activities the boats need to remain fully "dressed", with masts up and official sponsor flags flying.  Once the official activities are finished there is a rush to prepare the boats for being shipped back to Europe (as most of them are).   A lot of preparation work will have been done before, but it still takes a lot of work to get the rigs down and prepared.  As always in the mini fleet, there will be a lot of cooperation as three or four skippers get together to help each other drop the masts.

And then ...

What happens next?  For some of these skippers, this will be just one of several Mini Transats.  For some it will be the first, and they will begin planning almost immediately for the next race in two years' time.  For others, who have been across before, this is a serial addiction that keeps bringing them back.  For many, however, this will be their one and only crossing - a lifetime achievement that has been completed.

What they all share, however, is that this year's race is over.  It is time to leave the warmth and sunshine of the Caribbean and go home, wherever that might be.  Turn the page on the 2013 race and look ahead.  Completing the race - particularly this year's race with the extremely difficult conditions - is something these skippers will share forever.  But now it is time to go their separate ways and get back to their "normal" lives.   Time to start again - whether that is sitting at a desk looking at a computer or preparing for 2015.

Bravo to the skippers of the 2013 Mini Transat.  Bonne chance a tous with whatever the future brings.