Le Défi Azimut: Mast breakage in the 48-hour race - Romain Attanasio has to fight

Hard setback for Romain Attanasio on course for the Vendée Globe. During the 48-hour race at Le Défi Azimut, the mast on "Fortinet - Best Western" broke in the early morning of 13 September. The accident occurred at 3.30 am. According to initial reports from the race organisers, 47-year-old French skipper Romain Attanasio, his accompanying boat captain Adrien Bernard and onboard reporter Richard Mardens were uninjured.

"I'm very sorry for Romain." Boris Herrmann

In collaboration with the shore crew of Romain Attanasio's team and the race management, Romain Attanasio and his crew are fighting to bring "Fortinet - Best Western" back to Lorient. The boat is a VPLP/Verdier design from 2015 and is very well known in Germany: Boris Herrmann sailed his first Vendée Globe with it. When the Hamburg native sailed around the world, "Fortinet - Best Western" was still called "Malizia II - Yacht Club de Monaco".

Boris Herrmann knows the Frenchman well and describes him as a calm and level-headed skipper: "Romain is rather reserved, not a show-off. He is a very solid worker and a member of the Pôle Finistère. He's in our group, has gone through the whole Figaro school and worked through it. He's actually very underrated because, like Alan Roberts, he's part of the performance milieu."

Le Défi Azimut: Charlie Dalin leads the 48-hour race

The 18 other participants continued the 48-hour race in Le Défi Azimut on Friday. They were expected back in the start and finish harbour of Lorient on Saturday. Charlie Dalin on "Macif Santé Prévoyance" had taken the lead on Friday morning ahead of Jérémie Beyou ("Charal") and Sam Goodchild ("Vulnerable"). The top three were less than ten nautical miles apart at around 10am.

A good ten nautical miles behind Charlie Dalin in fourth place was Boris Herrmann's former Ocean Race navigator Nicolas Lunven on "Holcim - PRB" - almost on a par with Yoann Richomme's "Paprec Arkéa" and Samantha Davies' "Initiatives - Cœur".

Thomas Ruyant on "Vulnerable", Boris Herrmann from "Malizia - Seaexplorer", Justine Mettraux on "Teamwork Team Snef" and Damien Seguin on "Groupe Apicil" completed the other top ten co-favourites for the Vendée Globe. Two strong women put pressure on the Frenchman after the first night at sea: Isabelle Joschke ("Macsf") and the youngest upcoming Vendée Globe starter at 23 years old, Violetta Dorange ("Devenir"), were travelling at around ten knots in the lighter conditions on Friday morning, while the pace at the front was slightly higher.

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