The current second behind Charlie Dalin announced this Sunday that he had suffered major foil damage between the Kerguelens and Australia.
The Vendée sailor Sébastien Simon, in second position in the Vendée Globe, suffered major foil damage between the Kerguelens and Australia, which compromises his chances of victory in this round-the-world race without assistance, his team announced on Sunday. the AFP.
Awakened in the middle of the night, the skipper of Groupe Dubreuil, who was about 200 miles from the leader Charlie Dalin, discovered that his starboard foil (one of the appendages allowing the boat to take off) was broken, his team said. “I was sleeping when the boat suddenly went into a heap (leaning heavily, editor’s note). I went into the cockpit to right the boat (…) And I very quickly perceived from the sensations that something was wrong, the boat was no longer responding in the same way”said the 34-year-old sailor, in a video sent from his boat.
“I’m going to go to the end”
Without one of its two foils, the boat will not be able to compete in speed with the other latest generation IMOCAs at the front of the fleet. But not having noticed any collateral damage, the 34-year-old sailor nevertheless planned to continue his race. “I still have the other foil, which is intact. This means that on the port tack (when the boat receives the wind from the left, editor's note), I will lose around 30% of speed, which is not nothing.he detailed.
“It’s very frustrating, it’s a shame (…) in any case the race is not over, I’m going to go to the end”he added, visibly moved. At 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sébastien Simon was around 250 miles (400 km) behind leader Charlie Dalin (Macif) and 250 ahead of 3rd Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkea). With Dalin, he was the only sailor to have favored the southern option in the storm which shook the Vendée Globe fleet between Wednesday and Saturday, managing to stay on course towards the east despite the dire conditions.
Launched several days ago on the heels of Charlie Dalin (Macif), the Vendée sailor had made a very good start to the race, taking full advantage of the qualities of his ultra-high-performance sailboat. This Imoca launched in August 2021 won the Ocean Race (crewed round-the-world race with stopovers) under the colors of the American team 11th Hour, before being bought by the Vendée company Groupe Dubreuil.
In this Vendée Globe, his second, Sébastien Simon notably set the record for distance covered in 24 hours solo aboard a monohull sailboat (615.33 nautical miles) between November 26 and 27. Winner of the Solitaire du Figaro in 2018, Simon had already made a good start to the 2020/2021 Vendée Globe, passing the Cape of Good Hope in fourth position, before abandoning after hitting an unidentified floating object.
