It must have been the two hardest days of his life. Yann Eliès lay in his boat with a broken thigh for more than 48 hours before he could be rescued. An initial examination by the doctors on board the frigate, which had departed from Perth, provided information about his condition.
"He has a broken femur, that is now definitely clear. There are probably also some broken ribs and other injuries, but the medical team has not yet completed the examination," reported the captain of the frigate "Arunta" over the radio.
Eliès was injured when he was on the foredeck for a manoeuvre and the bow of the boat hit a wave at full speed. The resulting brutal stop caused him to fly over the deck and hit the superstructure hard.
In any case, this marks the end of an unimaginable ordeal for the Frenchman: he lay in his boat for two days, unable to reach the painkillers in his medical emergency pack, nor could he access food or water. On the advice of the Vendée race doctor, Eliès moved as little as possible so as not to risk any internal injuries that could have been life-threatening.
The attempts of his compatriot Marc Guillemot ("Safran"), who had already arrived at the accident yesterday, to throw water and painkillers into the cockpit failed. The French skipper could not take the risk of going alongside or even crossing over, the swell did not allow it, and of course the boats do not carry an inflatable dinghy or anything similar in a non-stop race.
Guillemot stayed close to his compatriot the whole time, perhaps to intervene if the situation worsened. However, he spoke to Eliès on the radio to encourage him. No other participant in the Vendée was better qualified to do so: Guillemot himself was trapped for two days with broken legs on a capsized maxi-cat ("Jet Services") in the late eighties.
There is no news yet from Eliès himself, but he has already spoken to his family in France.
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
