20% of the 2018 Route du Rhum fleet stopped for breakage and damage

Sébastien Rouxel © Thomas Rouxel / Gitana SA

After just over 24 hours of racing, the 123 solo sailors in the Route du Rhum have already been through a lot... And it's only the flow since a second very active low will overfly the Bay of Biscay from Monday night to Tuesday with very heavy seas and more than forty knots of wind. While some are reaching the coast for repairs, others have decided to take cover... Let's take a look at the state of the fleet...

Chloé Torterat Published on November 5, 2018

After a fast start, a light wind off Ushant and a strong NW'ly flow, the 123 solo sailors will now encounter difficult conditions... But expected... Thus, some of them have left to take shelter while waiting for the violent gust of wind with 40 knots of gusts. Others have already broken up and are heading for several ports along the coast to repair, or at least to analyze the extent of the damage.

The ULTIMATE

âeuros SÃ©bastien Josse ( Maxi Edmond de Rothschild ) suffered a sudden stop on Sunday night, before discovering that nearly 8 meters of his starboard float had been torn off. After securing his boat, he is now heading for La Coruña, which he should reach between 9 and 11 pm on Monday.

âeuros Thomas Coville ( Sodebo Ultim' ) has already reached the Spanish port because of the fairing of the port bow arm of the boat which broke.

The MULTI50

Nothing to report for the Multi50s. Erwan Le Roux made a quick stop in Roscoff after noticing a problem with his rudder, which led to a leak. After having respected the 4 hours penalty imposed, he is now in 6th and last position, 81.6 miles from the leader, Lalou Roucayrol.

IMOCA boats

Within the IMOCA fleet, four skippers have encountered damage and have had to divert to repair and seek shelter.

âeuros Louis Burton ( Valley Office ) returned to Roscoff after having âeuros Sunday evening âeuros discovered a significant water leak in the bow compartment of Bureau VallÃ©e 2 at the level of the starboard foil well. Placed inside the foil well, the pulley that guides the starboard foil downhaul has torn out of the well, and created a hole about 30 centimeters long through which the water has rushed strongly, making it impossible to sail on a tack at racing speed.

âeuros Manuel Cousin ( Sétin Group ) made a stopover in Camaret due to a minor damage to his starboard rudder hook. He intends to leave quickly.

âeuros Alexia Barrier ( 4myplanet ) is diverted to Concarneau, which she will reach in about 150 miles, due to an airborne sensor problem.

âeuros Jeremie Beyou ( Charal ), who had a damaged helm, made a temporary repair that allowed him to control the boat and sail towards Brest. He is sailing at 7 knots, heading 80. His team has chartered a tugboat from Brest with 3 people from the Charal Sailing Team and should accompany the return of the boat.

The CLASS40

Among the Class40s, there is no notable damage to report, but rather reason... Indeed, the solo sailors have decided to take shelter to preserve their 12.19 m boats. A choice explained by Jean Galfione, skipper of Class40 Serenis Consulting " I had been thinking about it for a weekâ?¦ I started out optimistic, buoyed by the start of the race and then it caught up with me once I passed Ushant. I said to myself, I can't go in there, I don't know enough, I don't feel capable of doing the right things. I prefer to avoid the worst."

Only Dominique Rivard ( Marie Galante-April ) joined Camaret due to a knee injury.

Brest

âeuros Jean Galfione ( Serenis Consulting )

âeuros FranÃ§ois Lassort ( Lassort-Tonton Louis Jewellers )

âeuros CÃ©dric de Kervenoael ( Grizzly Barber Shop )

âeuros Dominique Rivard (Marie-Galante April)

Camaret

âeuros Florian GuÃ©guen ( Sailing Team Parkinson )

âeuros Maxime Cauwe ( Azeo-On is large )

Lorient

âeuros Hiroshi Kitada ( Kiho )

Roscoff

âeuros Marc Dubos ( Scout Spirit )

Rhum Mono and Rhum Multi

The two classes with the oldest boats in the fleet also have their share of sailors who have decided to protect themselves from the heavy weather. Thus, all of them will go to the coast to take shelter from the violent gale.

Willy Bissainte ( C' La Guadeloupe ) ran aground on one of the Seven Islands on Sunday evening at 20:43. Lying on its side, its 40-foot monohull, registered in the Rhum Mono class, fell victim to a leak, which prompted the skipper to trigger his distress beacon. Alerted, the CROSS dispatched the SNSM boat from Ploumanach, while the Lynx, a training boat of the French Navy, also went to the area to help the Guadeloupean.