This Vendée promises to be the best ever in what regards competition and emotion: yesterday Escoffier’s boat broke in two when he was sailing at 27kn on big waves. He described the situation:
“It’s surreal what happened. The boat broke in two in a wave at 27 knots. I heard a crack but, honestly, it didn't take the noise to understand. I looked at the bow, it was at 90 °. Within seconds, there was water everywhere. The stern of the boat was underwater and the bow pointed skyward. The boat broke in two forward of the mast bulkhead. He sort of fell back. I assure you, I am not exaggerating anything, there was a 90 ° angle between the stern and the bow of the boat”
“I was just able to send a message to my team, "I'm sinking. This is not a joke. MAYDAY ”. From the moment when I was on deck tuning the sails to when I found myself in the survival suit, not even two minutes went by. It was extremely fast”.
His boat, the 10 year old PRB, the only one that had always maintained the same name (Riou’s boat) and sponsor, was the lightest of its generation. It displaced only 7 tons while most of the IMOCA’s weight one ton more. The boat was fast, won several races but also retired frequently due to problems, never having finished a Vendée Globe.
“At that time, I was not at all reassured ... You are in a raft with 35 knots of wind. No, that’s not reassuring. I was only reassured when I saw Jean Le Cam. But the problem was how to get on board with him. We said 2-3 words to each other. It was Verdun on the water. He was forced to pull away a bit and then after that I saw he was staying in the zone. I stayed in the raft until the early hours of the morning”.
Of course, at that time Escoffier did not know that Le Cam had lost him and that three more boats were sent to the zone to search for him. Still in the night, a bit after 1 AM (UTC) Le Cam found him again:
“He was two meters away from me, he sent me the "fry" with a tie but it was hard to stop the boat. Finally, I managed to grab a tube, a bar to get on board. There was still sea, about 3.50 meter’s waves. Getting on a IMOCA in these conditions, especially when you are constrained in your movements by the survival suit it is a kind of a test. Luckily I'm in good physical shape because I can assure you that it is not easy ".
Curiously, on another Vendée Globe, a decade ago, it was PRB, then sailed by Riou that rescued Le Cam from his capsized IMOCA, offshore Cape Horn.
This accident occurred partly because a Vendée was never so competitive as this none and they are pushing the boats to the limit and on this case beyond. Escoffier was in a group of 5 boats chasing and catching the second, Ruyant and gaining time over the leader, going at incredible speeds on heavy seas and high winds.
Escoffier was in the last 24 hours previous to the accident the second fastest on all the fleet averaging 18.0kts, only beaten by Burton that near the exclusion zone, in even bigger winds and seas, averaged 18,2.
These boats are so powerful that they have to be managed not to break, they cannot be sailed flat out on extreme conditions because they will break. Some have even sensors on different parts of the hull to give the skipper information regarding how much the boat is being stressed.
Now, that Escoffier is safe, it is time to look at the race again, and they all have a big storm ahead with over 50kt gusts and 6 meters waves. The leader, Dalin, is already crossing it having slowed to a bit more than 14kt, going with sustained winds of 34kts, Ruyant and Burton are entering it both already with sustained winds of 28kt and six meter waves, they reduced the speed to around 16kt.
The others, Boris, Simon, Le Cam and Bestaven, that went to gave assistance to Escoffier will take some hours to reach the storm, and they will have a compensation for the lost time. This group was reached by Seguin, the one hand man, that in an older IMOCA without foils is making an unbelievable race being the 2nd fastest on the last 24 hours (16.5) only beaten by Burton (17,7).
Burton has been the fastest or among the fastest on the last days, being the one that is taking more risks, sailing near the exclusion zone where the winds are stronger and the seas worse. His boat, Bureau Vallée 2, the boat that won last Vendée, and himself have been able to resist to the huge beating they are taking, Samantha that initially had followed him at almost the same speed gave up after a capsizing (90º) when a gust of 40kt appeared on 25kts wind, went more to the north and diminished speed.
Burton does not make videos, does not talk much and seems to be concentrated in sailing the boat as fast as he can, but surely he will have many stories to tell. I am hoping that the boat can survive the treatment because I bet that Burton will be able to keep on pushing it. What he has already done is awesome, he went out from Saint Ellen high at about 600nm from the leader and he is now at only about 260!
After these two the fastest on the last 24 hours were Isabelle with an average of 16.4kt, Dutreux and Pedote, both with 16.3 and all winning for the the first, Dalin that made 15.1 and to the second, Ruyant, that made 15.6.
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