On Sunday, a total of 100 sailors, divided into 40 two-man crews and 20 single-handed sailors, set off from La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany on the almost 3,800 nautical mile course. Their destination harbour was the marina of Fort-de-France on Martinique.
Just two days after the start, Frenchman Philippe Benoiton went overboard on the night of 16 to 17 April. The race organisers had noticed the lurching course of his JPK 960 and tried to contact him. After this attempt failed, the MRCC rescue centre in Finisterre was alerted, but the sea rescuers also received no response from Benoiton.
Dramatic: single-handed sailor's dream ends fatally
The track of Cap Martinique, which is still available, shows that he always kept to the east and downwind of the fleet. Apart from Bertrand Fourmond on his JPK 1030, who was forced to interrupt the race and call at a harbour, he was consistently the most easterly single-handed sailor in the race. Something must have happened on board Philippe Benoiton's "Philauvent - Passecoque" between 24.00 and 01.00 in the early morning of 17 April.
By this point, the 63-year-old vet had dropped back to last place in the single-handed field, but was still travelling in the same direction as his rivals. Benoiton was still well within striking distance of the rest of the field. However, his automatic position report from 0.32 am on Wednesday morning shows his ship travelling crossways, or probably already drifting at this point, to the direction of the route and the direction of travel of the other ships.
At 1.30 pm, the Spanish MRCC then reported that the body of the father from Angers had been recovered. Benoiton's boat was also towed away. He had said before the start that the race had been a long-awaited goal of his: "My dream is to sail alone from Trinité-sur-Mer to Martinique across the Atlantic, and now I'm finally going to make it come true."
In the meantime, a few messages of condolence have been published on the organiser's website. Quentin Froment, who is also travelling single-handed on his Sun Fast 3300, wrote: "When I heard the news, I burst into tears ... This was not supposed to happen. We set sail to enjoy our passion for the sea ... Not for dramas like this." Jacques Amedeo, who is taking part in the race with Brice Tailliander on a JPK 110, wrote: "Hello Philippe, you've left us, it's hard and cruel. We have just lost a dear friend."
Cap Martinique: Launch under favourable conditions
The course of the dramatic accident is still unclear. For the sailors from seven nations, the start took place under ideal conditions. This was also confirmed by the race director of the Cap Martinique regatta, François Séruzier. He described the conditions during the first 48 hours of the race as "exceptional". Although the first part of the race is complex due to the Bay of Biscay and Cape Finisterre in north-east Spain, the participating sailors benefited from mild conditions that favoured rapid progress.
The majority of the fleet reached Cape Finisterre on 16 April. After that, the wind usually comes from the south-west, so the participants would have to sail against the wind in this passage, but the sailors were lucky in the current edition of the amateur transatlantic race and were able to benefit from the wind from the north-east.
