It’s not the final blow, but it won’t help. Yoann Richomme, who occupies second place in the Vendée Globe and has been fighting for several weeks with Charlie Dalin, the leader of the event, reported, on the morning of Friday January 10, a damage which caused him to lose time and could slow down his progress. .
“At 7:29 a.m., Yoann Richomme, skipper of the Imoca Paprec-Arkéacontacted the Vendée Globe race management and its team on land to inform them of the broken hook of a headsail [une pièce permettant de la hisser]leading to a fall into the water » of it, indicates a press release.
In the middle of the night, “the sail fell into the water on the foil [appendice latéral permettant au bateau de voler sur l’eau] and was cut into two pieces »said the 41-year-old skipper in an audio message sent to Agence France-Presse.
“Not too serious for the future”
“I managed to bring her back on board and not leave anything in the watercontinues Richomme. (…) It’s a bit of a shame, but it’s not too serious for the future. It’s especially restrictive to have lost two hours on the road” to repair this damage. The skipper reported that he was able to replace the torn sail with a spare.
Richomme is the last sailor still in contact with the leader of the Vendée Globe, Charlie Dalin (Macif), expected between Tuesday January 14 and Wednesday January 15 in Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée). The two men engaged in a fierce duel from Cape Horn, which Richomme crossed 9 minutes before Dalin.
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Friday at 11 a.m., after sixty days at sea, the skipper of Paprec-Arkéa was located near the Canaries, 200 miles (370 kilometers) from Dalin and more than 630 miles (around 1,160 kilometers) north of the third, Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil Group).
Barring exceptional circumstances, victory in this 10e edition of the Vendée Globe should not escape Dalin or Richomme. “Yoann continues his determined race. The Imoca Paprec-Arkéa is still expected on Tuesday » upon arrival, advances his team.
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