The French extreme sailor Guirec Soudée has suffered a severe setback in his record attempt. On day 68 of his non-stop single-handed circumnavigation, the starboard rudder of the Ultim giant "Macsf" was severely damaged in a collision with a fishing net. The accident occurred south of Madagascar. At the time of the crash, Guirec Soudée was travelling at a speed of 20 knots.
Guirec Soudée: "Serious damage" on "Macsf"
Guriec Soudée described the damage as "serious", but at the same time said that repairs would only be possible once he had reached the Atlantic. Less than two days after the accident, on the morning of 2 March, Soudée still had around 1,250 nautical miles to go before passing the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of South Africa. Only then will he be able to re-enter the Atlantic and start the final leg of the adventure. Skipper and boat were again travelling at speeds of around 20 knots. Click here for the Tracking for Guirec Soudée's solo around the world from east to west.
In a report from on board, Guirec Soudée said: "The situation on board is not great. I was inside the boat and still travelling super fast. I think I was travelling at around 20 knots. Then I felt the impact. Then a second one. I immediately went to the back and slowed the boat down as much as possible. I realised that we had collided with something. I looked at the centre rudder, but there was nothing there. The centre rudder was also okay."
Autopilot off, manual steering required
He then quickly checked both sides, but was still unable to detect any damage. "Then I looked behind to see what we had collided with," says Guirec Soudée, explaining the process. He then tried to accelerate the boat a little again. "I switched off the autopilot and steered by hand. That's when I felt that it was super heavy and the boat wasn't accelerating."
The soloist continues: "So I headed back downwind and then realised that a fishing net was wrapped around the starboard rudder, with two heavy weights hanging from it. The rudder broke. The foil was hit first. But presumably only from the net. I can't see any serious damage there."
The starboard rudder is a different story. "The rudder back there is in a bad state. So I've jibed and am now sailing on the port bow. That means the rudder is in the air, which is okay. But if I sail on starboard bow, the rudder is fully in the water. It can delaminate. It's super hard to steer and means I have to slow down on a bow. Unfortunately, it's the same bow that I already have my foil problem on."
Guirec Soudée only wants to repair in the Atlantic
The solution, says Guirec Soudée, could be a repair attempt. "But it has to be calm for that," says Soudée. Instead, however, he found himself in rather difficult wind and current conditions, in which the Agulhas Current off the South African coast and predicted winds can create very rough seas. "This is very dangerous for my boat," said the 34-year-old adventurer and record hunter.
In view of the wind forecasts, Soudée said he had to hurry in order to reach the Cape of Good Hope as quickly as possible and not risk any further damage. "As soon as I'm in the Atlantic, I'll make an attempt to repair the boat. It won't prevent me from getting there, but I'm handicapped.
Guirec Soudée wants to beat Jean-Luc Van den Heede's record. The former maths teacher and six-time circumnavigator "VDH", who is also known as the "sailor of firsts" because he sailed the historic first Mini-Transat in 1977 and the first Vendée Globe in 1990, achieved the non-stop circumnavigation against the prevailing winds during his record-breaking voyage in 2003/2004.
The "Macsf" skipper chases the "VDH" record
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede set off on his solo on 7 November 2003 and reached the finish line on 9 March 2004 after 122 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes and 49 seconds with the 26.40 metre long aluminium yacht "Adrien", designed by Gilles Vaton Studio. Guirec Soudée chases the record with the Ultim giant "Macsf"once built as the "Sodebo Ultim" and later also known under her names "Actual Leader", "Mieux" and "Adagio". Before Guirec Soudée, no one had ever sailed solo and non-stop around the world from east to west in an Ultim. Soudée set off for the current attempt one day before the end of 2025.
Here Guirec Soudée describes the fracture situation and his options in a clip from See:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
