The Ocean Fifties had gone to the Transat Café L'Or one day before the originally planned start at their own request and in agreement with the race organisers. They had already opened the race on Saturday. However, the first capsize of one of the 15-metre multihulls caused alarm that evening. Overnight, one piece of bad news followed the next until early Sunday morning. Three of the multihulls have now capsized! All six sailors were rescued and are safe and sound.
The first capsize at the Transat Café L'Or
The race organisers had already been informed by the CROSS rescue service at 22:27 local time on Saturday evening that the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) had been activated by Ocean Fifty "Lazare X Helio". Co-skippers Erwan Le Draoulec and Tanguy Le Turquais had only been racing for a few hours after the start at 16:30 local time. The French trimaran had capsized about three nautical miles off the coast near La Hague in the Manche department.
The two French skippers survived the capsize in rough seas, waves around three metres high and winds of 22 to 25 knots with gusts of up to 30 knots, and were airlifted out. The SNSM (Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer) sea rescue service travelled to the scene of the accident to mark the position of the boat. The sailors, in collaboration with the race organisers and their technical team, immediately began to draw up a plan to salvage the "Lazare X Helio".
The second shock news came just a few hours later: the race organisers were informed at 2.25 a.m. local time that the Ocean Fifty "Koesio" had capsized. The boat had been in eighth place at the time, sailing in 25 knots of wind and waves of up to around two and a half metres. Erwan Leroux and Audrey Ogereau also survived their capsize well, were also rescued by helicopter, taken to the CROSS station in Joburg (Cotentin site) and received there by family members.
Three capsizes within seven hours
The next capsize occurred at 5.05 a.m. local time. "Inter Invest" was the third trimaran to capsize within seven hours. The two skippers, Matthieu Perraut and Jean-Baptiste Gellé, were also rescued by air at around 6 a.m. and are in good health like their fellow sufferers. The boat was secured and was already in tow on Sunday morning.
The remaining seven Ocean Fifties continued the race on Sunday morning. Click here for the Tracking for the Transat Café L'Orwhich will be active for all boats from the start of the three other classes on Sunday afternoon. In the Ocean Fifties, Pierre Quiroga and Gaston Morvan on "Wewise" held a narrow lead over "Edenred 5" with Emmanuel Le Roch and Basile Bourgnon on the morning of 26 October. They were followed by Thibuat Vauchel-Camus and Vendée Globe sailor and Paralympics winner Damien Seguin on "Solidaires en Peloton".
The Ultims start on Sunday afternoon at 2 pm local time. They will be followed by the Imocas and the Class40 fleet, each with their own and different long courses to the destination harbour of Fort-de-France on Martinique. The live broadcasts start at 9.45 a.m. here with the launching of the boats in the Paul Vatine basin. The starts themselves can be followed here from 1.30 pm.
Rough start - a look back at the start of the Ocean Fifties on Saturday, before the black capsize series got underway:
