For his first solo round-the-world trip, the Cherbourg skipper is going through a series of challenges. In the space of 24 hours, he damaged his two spinnakers. Not enough to sink the morale of the Norman navigator.
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For Louis Duc, the first problems arose barely two days after the big departure from Les Sables d’Olonne, “small technical problems“which forced the Norman navigator to slow down on Tuesday evening before being able to repair.”It will be resolved, nothing too serious“, launched the Cherbourgeois in a video published on social networks on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, a few hours later, while the skipper of Fives Group – Lantana Environnement had regained good speed, its small spinnaker (a headsail) was torn. A hassle that would lead to another. The large spinnaker, deployed to compensate for this damage, literally exploded a few hours later in a gust.
“We had a pretty complicated night since I blew my big spinnaker, it took me an hour and a half – two hours to pack everything up“, Louis Duc recounted Thursday evening, “Nothing went into the water, I got everything back. So I’m going to carry pieces of rag around the world. There’s a point where it’s still going to be penalizing but now I’m going to do my race with what I have left.”
This Friday morning, the Cherbourg skipper occupies 30th place in the ranking as the fleet sails off the Canary Islands. Despite the problems (electronic problems, rudder problems, torn spinnakers), Louis Duc showed solid morale on Thursday evening. “Today it’s broken, that’s not bad. There are squalls, it goes up to 32, 33 knots, the boat goes up to 25 knots. So ultimately there’s not much to complain about. I saw that there are already competitors who are in poverty. So there are people worse than us.” Thus, the Saint-Malo Maxime Sorel (V and B – Monbana – Mayenne) had to divert to Madeira to repair his mast. A maneuver made complicated by an ankle injury.
This Friday morning, the news communicated by the skipper’s team of Fives Group – Lantana Environnement were encouraging. “All last night, he was the fastest in VMG (velocity made good: speed of approach compared to the direct route) of drift boats. Louis has in fact opted since yesterday for a route further west than the bulk of the fleet: he thus benefits for the moment from a better angle in relation to the wind.“
Two other Normans are taking part in this 10th edition of the Vendée Globe. Le Havre Charlie Dalin, one of the favorites, is currently in sixth place (after having been in the lead the first few days). For Rouennais Manuel Cousin, on the other hand, the race is more complicated. The skipper of “Coup de Pouce” remains stuck in 36th position.
