What an amazing three days of euphoria, crowds and champagne. Since finishing my maiden Vendée Globe race, I have been overwhelmed by the thousands of people here in Les Sables d'Olonne who welcomed me and Roxy in. I thought it would be scary to come back into port after so long at sea, but it was the complete opposite. I am the happiest person alive. Of course Roxy has seen it all before - twice.

After I crossed the finish line at 1:41am last Saturday, I had to wait outside the harbour on Roxy for a few hours until the tide was right to travel inland. This gave me time to chill out on the boat. I had been pushing Roxy extremely hard over the final week of the race as I knew a podium finish was in my grasp, so I was absolutely exhausted.

When I finally got into port at 9am, the pandemonium started. After some pontoon celebrations with the media, I took my first step on land after 96 days at sea.

The sheer number of people who followed the race was obvious as we headed to the podium. After lots of champagne, the inevitable media marathon began. Afterwards, I got to spend time doing exactly what I missed during the race, spending time with my close friends and family.

One of the highlights since the finish has been seeing the other skippers come in to port. On Sunday night, I saw Marc Guillemot, the French skipper, who helped in the same rescue of Yann Eliès that I was involved in, finish his race. Marc has been an outstanding competitor; even after losing his keel after 92 days, he decided to keep on going. After modifying his time to include the redress he got for helping in Yann's rescue, he overtook me in the standings to finish in third. I am absolutely delighted for him.

I also saw sailing legend Brian Thompson cross the line as the second Briton, a great achievement as he had been battling problems with his boat since the Southern Ocean.

Dee Caffari arrived a few hours after Brian yesterday, and it was great to get another female perspective on the Vendée.

There are so many special memories from this race but the chaotic start and my first rounding of Cape Horn are the two major things that will stick in my mind.

My dream is now to be on the start line in 2012 with a new boat and with the aim to be the first woman (and first Briton) to win the race. I have shown that I have the ability to challenge the world's best sailors, so I will be delighted to have a chance to do it all again.

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