The ship is particularly efficient, the skipper from La Rochelle has a good handle on it and makes it go faster than the other competitors, she juggles with the Saint Helena anticyclone and arrives at Cape Town, the end of the first stage, with five days ahead of the second, the American Steve Pettengill, and almost a week ahead of the defending champion, Christophe Auguin.
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Misfortunes keep coming
The second stage launches on Saturday November 26 in Capetown. Unfortunately, what followed was a succession of damages which turned into a nightmare and almost ended in tragedy. Starting very quickly, and in the leading pack, Isabelle Autissier's race came to an abrupt end on December 2 at 8:10 a.m., off the coast of the Prince Edward Islands. A broken turnbuckle attachment at the foot of a shroud caused the mast and rigging to fall. Not admitting defeat, she cobbled together a makeshift rigging to reach the Kerguelen Islands. With the help of the team from the Port-aux-Français scientific base, she managed to set up a temporary mast to hope to arrive in Sydney in time for the start of the third stage.
A dangerous rescue
Fate persisted and on December 28, nearly 1,000 miles south of Australia, on the route of the Roaring 40s, his boat was caught in a storm, with winds exceeding 70 knots, a huge wave pulverized the mast, tore off the roof and filled “Écureuil Poitou-Charentes 2” with freezing water. Isabelle Autissier will have to wait three days, in extreme conditions, for the intervention of the Australian navy to save her. The raging elements made rescue very difficult.
This mishap did not alter her taste for sailing; she took part in other races in the following years.
