Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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Lastest update:
At approximately 19:00 UTC this evening (Friday 27th November) – 19 days into the Vendée Globe round-the-world yacht race – Alex Thomson notified his technical team on shore of damage to the starboard rudder of his HUGO BOSS boat.
The team immediately advised Thomson to disconnect the rudder to regain steerage. He now has control of the yacht with one rudder, and is safe and in no danger onboard.
The team is working to assess the extent of the damage. A further update will be released on Saturday 28th November.
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That made me a little misty eyed…
...and this makes me pissed off.
Here is Alex's thoughts on what happened to his rudder:
The bitterly disappointed 46 years old from Gosport, Hampshire in England has explained briefly what happened to his rudder, believing that some discarded or lost fishing equipment cause the fracture,
“I was averaging 21 knots, flying the small gennaker and one reef in the mainsail. I was down below when there was a huge bang and the boat broached violently. The steering system was jammed and all I could do was roll the sails away. Once on deck I could see the rudder blade was broken and swinging around with a large piece of fishing gear jammed into the cracks. So I think I must have hit something. It certainly looks that way. Now I am having to keep the boat flat while I sail the boat now with just one rudder to Cape Town.”
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Jean Le Cam is an old school yachtsman in an old school (no foils) yacht who has been punching well above his weight.
A French friend of mine just sent me this message…..
"Poor Jean!! he's the only one with a workable boat and now he's obliged to come and help the others...!"
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Taken and translated from a French news article:
By Sandrine Lefèvre
On 30 November 2020 at 5.49 p.m., amended on 30 November 2020 at 10:35 p.m.
A long wait on the Vendée Globe. On Monday at 10:30 p.m., Kevin Escoffier, a refugee on his liferaft off the cap of good hope, was unhearsed. While Jean Le Cam has been sailing in the same area since 5 p.m. to try to lend him a hand, several skippers have confusing themselves to help him.
On Monday in the early afternoon, while on his way to the Cape of Good Hope in a formed sea, Escoffier triggered his beacon of distress. It was 14:46 in France, when the skipper of PRB sent a final message to his team down, warning that he had water in his boat. As soon as he was alerted, the race management asked Jean Le Cam, who was sailing at about twenty miles (37 km) to assist him.
A very dreaded area
On the spot, the dean of the race saw Kevin Escoffier on his lifeboat and then unplored his engine to recover it. A technical problem on Jean Le Cam's boat prevented maneuver. Soon, the race management asked Boris Herrmann, Yannick Bestaven and then Sébastien Simon to take place to help him. Their arrival in the area was planned around 11 p.m. Rescue could last all night, or even until early morning. Sea conditions are dangerous.
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Taken from the Vendee Globe website:
2200hrs UTC NEWS UPDATE
Race Direction of the Vendée Globe requested the assistance of three competing skippers, Germany’s Boris Herrmann (Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco), Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ IV) and Sébastien Simon (ARKEA PAPREC) to help Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam!) in the mission to retrieve solo skipper Kevin Escoffier from his life raft after the 40 year old from Saint Malo had to abandon his IMOCA 60 PRB this Monday afternoon after activating his distress beacon.Escoffier was racing in third place on the 22nd day of the solo non stop around the world race, at some 840 nautical miles SW of Cape Town, when his PRB got into difficulties and he was forced to take to his liferaft.
He alerted his technical team at 1346hrs UTC this afternoon, telling them he had significant amounts of water coming into the boat and immediately triggered his yacht's distress beacon. PRB was positioned at 40deg55S 9deg16E at the time the distress beacon was activated.
Race Direction of the Vendée Globe alerted MRCC Cape Town and CROSS Griz Nez who have been collaborating in a rescue operation. The skipper closest to Escoffier’s position, Jean Le Cam, who is competing on his fifth Vendée Globe, immediately responded to the request to divert to Escoffier’s position.
Guided by Race Direction Le Cam arrived on zone around 1615hrs UTC and quickly established visual and voice contact with Escoffier who was in his liferaft but he was unable to retrieve him in the big, 5m, seas and 20-25 knot winds.
As he was manoeuvring to prepare to get closer to the liferaft Le Cam lost sight of the liferaft and could not establish radio contact nor to pick up the signal from the AIS the range of which was reduced by the heavy seas.
He lost sight of Escoffier in the dying light but has continued to try and locate him, Le Cam is communicating regularly with Race Direction and the rescue authorities. The three other skippers are now in, or are approaching the search area. The positioning of Kevin Escoffier's personal beacon (AIS MOB Man Over Board) emits HF radiowaves and will only be detected in the local zone.
The four skippers will follow a protocol established by Race Direction in coordination with Jean Le Cam. They will approach with three reefs in the mainsail and the engine idling. A grid search area for the zone has been established and will be carried out by the four IMOCAs who are set to provide assistance.
The PRB shore crew said that besides his AIS Mob, Kevin Escoffier also means to signal his presence in the liferaft. Daybreak tomorrow morning is around 0340hrs UTC in this zone and the search will be ongoing.
This press release has been drawn up jointly with the Vendée Globe and Team PRB.
