One boat capsized and three others dismasted within hours on Saturday evening, but their skippers are safe and unscathed as much of the fleet crossed a violent front, according to organizers of the Route du rhum. Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires En Peloton-Arsep), who took the lead in the race on Friday evening in the Ocean Fifty category (15m trimarans), capsized between Portugal and the Azores. He had just passed the second cold front which is shaking the fleet in the Atlantic, with gusts of 35 to 40 knots (64 to 74 km/h) and disorderly seas.
“It’s amazing how hard it goes”
He was not injured and was sheltered in the central hull of his trimaran. A little earlier, Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée), who was among the Imoca (18m monohulls) launched in pursuit of leader Charlie Dalin (Apivia), dismasted around 5:00 p.m. ” I don’t understand. I was at 2 reefs (low mainsail), J3 (small headsail), there are maybe two meters of hollow, it was prudent”, commented Burton, visibly in shock and very disappointed. , in a video released by his team. “I’m disgusted, it’s unbelievable how hard it is,” he added.
Third in the Vendée Globe in 2020-2021, he had to retire due to a leak during the last edition of the Route du rhum and he had dismasted last year on the first evening of the Transat Jacques Vabre. Two other skippers, entered in Class40, also dismasted: Amélie Grassi (La Boulangère Bio) and Aurélien Ducroz (Crosscall), who were respectively in 10th and 11th place in the provisional classification at the end of the afternoon.
Caudrelier still in the lead, Gabart and Coville on his heels
For Justine Mettraux (Teamwork.net), also in the peloton of pursuers in Imoca, “it was war! It was the most difficult moment of the race, we knew that”. “I think we all had mast alarms all over the place because it was hitting a lot. I tried to make sure that it hits at a minimum but sometimes (…) the boat gets carried away, you take off on a wave and you don’t really know how you’re going to get out of it! For me, it’s over but I’ll have to do a good check tomorrow morning because it’s certain that the boat got expensive,” she explained.
Far ahead, the fight continued – at an average speed of more than 30 knots during the evening – between Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild) and François Gabart (SVR Lazartigue). If Gabart, winner of the event in 2014, passed in front in the morning, Caudrelier regained the lead when passing the Azores. But his lead was limited. For his part, Thomas Coville (Sodébo) is still in contact and takes third place. The defending champion, Francis Joyon, is fourth.