Guyot Environnement - Team Europe has completed the repair work on its yacht, which was damaged when its mast broke on the night of 9 May, faster than it had hoped. It took Team Guyot's own tech team and ten international boat builders rounded up by Marc Pickel from Kiel just six days to repair Team Guyot's Imoca.
First a farewell party in Kiel, then a return to the Ocean Race family
The crew set sail on Tuesday evening and headed for the Danish harbour of Aarhus. Shortly before casting off, Lord Mayor Dr Ulf Kämpfer came to the spontaneous farewell party on the pier at the Knierim Yachtbau shipyard in Kiel and wished the team all the best for the two remaining legs of The Ocean Race, especially for the fly-by from Kiel on Friday afternoon.
Skipper Benjamin Dutreux had already travelled by car to Aarhus to take part in the skipper's press conference in the Danish sailing city on Tuesday afternoon. There he sat between Boris Herrmann and Team Holcim, his hair tousled and visibly moved. PRB's new man Benjamin Schwartz on stage and said: "Since losing the mast, we had many options. One of them was to abandon the race. But we've had a lot of help from a lot of people, including all the other teams here, who have been really supportive."
Now we can hardly wait to continue fighting with the other teams and give our best. Just like we have done from the start" (Benjamin Dutreux)
The experienced solidarity means a lot to his team, says Dutreux. "This allowed us to make the decision to try and get back into the race. The boat will arrive in Aarhus on Wednesday. We are very touched by the help we have received. It was quite emotional for us. And now we can't wait to keep fighting with the other teams and do our best, just like we did from the start."
In Kiel, co-skipper Robert Stanjek and all the helpers kept a watchful eye on the repairs. The fast work over six days was made possible by the Guyot Environnement - Team Europe's own tech crew and a task force of ten international boat builders. The boat builders were brought together by the successful Kiel-based coach, P-Star developer and two-time Olympian Marc Pickel, who is himself a very accomplished technician. He was so moved by the scenes of the mast breaking that he wanted to support Team Guyot in their fight to return to the race.
It's great that the team has made it back to the starting line. As Lord Mayor of the City of Kiel, I can say that we are proud" (Ulf Kämpfer)
The joint efforts of all the technicians, sailors and many other helping hands were so successful that a pilot was able to board the Imoca for the lock passage at 7.30 p.m. on 6 June. The short hop to Aarhus was scheduled for the night, where the crew with Phillip Kasüske, Sébastien Simon and team technicians plan to arrive on Wednesday morning. Sébastien Simon's forecast: "According to the routing, we should arrive in the morning with light winds. We may even have to wait a little before entering the harbour, as our shore crew won't be leaving Kiel until Wednesday morning and will then have to prepare everything for mooring."
Robert Stanjek and Annie Lush will also be travelling to Aarhus by land. "Guyot" skipper Benjamin Dutreux, co-skipper Robert Stanjek, Annie Lush and Phillip Kasüske as well as on-board reporter Gauthier Lebec will take on leg six. As the foiler set off, Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer said: "It's great that the team is making it to the starting line again. As Lord Mayor of the City of Kiel, I can say that we are proud - even if I didn't contribute to it. It's just a privilege of the office that you can be there at such a moment."
Team Guyot will return to Kiel with the Ocean Race fleet for the fly-by on 9 June
Kämpfer outed himself as a big Ocean Race fan in his farewell cheer: "It's incredibly exciting and great to be able to follow it on the tracker. The fact that the fleet is returning to Kiel with the fly-by on 9 June - exactly 21 years after the victory of the 'Illbruck' - gives hope for more. After all, Aarhus was also a fly-by in the last race and is now a staging post."
On his team's happy day, Robert Stanjek thanked the dedicated boat builders from France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Germany. They had made the seemingly impossible possible in just a few days at the boatyard and are the secret heroes of the story.
The secret heroes are the boat builders
Stanjek said: "On the night of 8 to 9 May, our mast broke in the North Atlantic. And shortly afterwards - in one of the darkest hours - Marc Pickel called me and offered his help. Shortly afterwards, he had a plan on how to go about it. It then took a while to bring all the points together. The yacht arrived here in Kiel last Wednesday and everything was already perfectly prepared. But until Thursday, everyone was working on positive suspicions."
During their team's weeks-long rollercoaster ride through technical, logistical and mental lows and highs, the Guyot fighters repeatedly had their final end in sight. It was only on 1 June that it became clear that the Herculean task of returning to the race around the world would also be economically feasible. "It's great that we now have a floating boat again. But there is still a lot of work for the transfer crew to do on the way to Aarhus to get the yacht ready for racing mode," said Robert Stanjek.
Team Guyot was bid farewell with loud cheers on the evening of 6 June in Kiel:
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