At 03:10 this morning, skipper Louis Burton reported to the regatta organisers that he had been rammed on the port side by a fishing boat. He was in the cockpit at the time of the crash, but was asleep. The ship's radar, AIS and lights were activated. At the time of the crash, "Bureau Vallée" was sailing at a speed of around 18 knots in almost 30 knots of wind, rough conditions and poor visibility. Burton has now turned the boat north-east towards the mainland and is slowly sailing back, but does not want to examine the exact damage until daylight. It looks like the rig has been damaged and he will not be able to continue.
Just the day before yesterday, Kito de Pavant's "Groupe Bel" was rammed and badly damaged by a Portuguese trawler. He had even filmed the collapsed deck and a huge hole in the hull and said goodbye to his fans from the race.
Frenchman François Gabart continues to lead the race with his "Macif", but his lead of over 60 nautical miles at times has now dwindled to 40 nautical miles over his compatriot Armel Le Cléac'h. This was likely to continue for a few more hours, as a group led by Vincent Riou ("PRB"), Jean-Pierre Dick ("Paprec Virbac 3"), Jérémie Beyou ("Maitre Coq") and Alex Thomson ("Hugo Boss") had turned westwards earlier in order to sail towards a low. As a result, they encountered better conditions earlier and now have a VMG that is significantly higher than that of Gabart and Bernard Stamm, who have to wait longer for the wind shift further south. Overall, however, it is astonishing how clearly François Gabart has been able to make his mark on the race so far. So far, he has always seemed to be able to sail a tad faster than all the other boats. He is sailing the last "Foncia" that Michel Desjoyeaux built for the 2010 Barcelona World Race. Apparently, it was more than just a success.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
