Stéphane Le Diraison has informed the Vendée Globe Race Direction of his dismasting aboard his IMOCA Compagnie du Lit/Ville de Boulogne-Billancourt on Saturday 17th December 2016 at 18:42.
The incident occurred while sailing in a 30-35 knot NW'ly wind at the time of the break-up, 770 miles off the Australian coast. Her mast broke in 3 pieces while sailing very south of Australia.
Last night, he was trying to free his rigging before taking an inventory of his boat. This has now been done, as he was able to free all the elements and noticed that one of his daggerboards was damaged. After freeing all the pieces of mast and rigging, he decided to start the engine so he could rest. He set course for Australia.
" When I break, when I miss a move, I assume. But right now, it's hard to digest. There were 25-26 knots of wind, I was sailing carefully, with two reefs in the mainsail. And the boat went into a surf, I heard a crack, I thought it was an outrigger. I rushed out to take the helm, and then I saw that I had no mast left. The explanation was a loop in the backstay which broke. The mast broke in two pieces. In the middle of the night with heavy seas, the mast was knocking and the sails were in the water. I fought to avoid holes on the deck, the spreaders were rubbing, it was hell. I got caught in the breakers... I had to leave everything in the water, like the mainsail and the rigging. I put the engine on, rested for two hours, ate, now I'm going to take care of the boom... and put the storm jib on this 7-metre stretch of mast. I'm going to go to Melbourne." said Stéphane Le Diraison during the Vendée Live radio session on December 18th.
