Grinding, cutting, sanding, gluing, lamination: Louis Burton the MacGyver of the Vendée Globe [Vidéo]

Louis Burton, when he says, he does! Refusing to abandon the Vendée Globe despite a “broken and damaged boat” to use his words, the skipper of Bureau Vallée rolled up his sleeves this Monday, a little less than 36 hours after noticing that his monohull was badly damaged. cracked in the back part.

“We must not give up, let’s go for the repairs: the idea is to get back into racing mode,” he explained in a video. In its misfortune, Malouin is lucky to have peaceful weather: the sea is calm, the outside temperature is good.

First, Louis Burton started with a long sequence of sanding inside and outside the boat, he then cut out a small area on the deck, before inserting glue into the nest damaged bee. Next, he prepared and applied resin strips to the cracked areas.

“It no longer cracks, the cracks are filled”

Finally, equipped with a safety harness, he did not hesitate to go to work outside the hull… while continuing to move forward under autopilot. He even used his replacement mainsail slats to install two splints and thus take up the longitudinal forces of the hull. Slats glued and bolted on both sides. Impressive !

“We have regained structural integrity, it no longer creaks, the cracks are filled: it seems rigid when you walk on the bridge,” explained the loner, satisfied with the repairs.