Aspiring to victory in the Vendée Globe, skipper Yoann Richomme informed the organizers on Friday morning of sail damage, while he was in 2nd place in the race a few days before the finish.
In the middle of the night, after the breakage of a part allowing the front sail to be hoisted, “the sail fell into the water on the foil and was cut into two pieces”, recounted the skipper of the Imoca Paprec Arkéa in an audio message sent to AFP.
“I managed to bring her back on board and not leave anything in the water,” he said, relieved. After 40 minutes of trying to get the sail out of the water, Richomme was also able to replace it with a spare sail.
“Not too serious for the future”
“It’s a bit of a shame, but it’s not too serious for the future. It is especially restrictive to have lost 2 hours of driving” to repair this damage, detailed the 41-year-old navigator.
Richomme is the last sailor still in contact with the leader of the Vendée Globe, Charlie Dalin (Macif), expected between Tuesday and Wednesday in Sables-d’Olonne. The two men engaged in a fierce duel from Cape Horn, 9 minutes apart.
After 60 days at sea, he was on Friday at 11:00 a.m. near the Canaries, 200 miles from Dalin and more than 630 miles north of 3rd, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil).
-Victory in this 10th Vendée Globe should logically be decided between the first two. “Yoann continues his determined race. The Imoca Paprec Arkéa is still expected to arrive on Tuesday, declared its team.
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