The redemptive news came in the middle of the night: Frenchman Jean Le Cam disappeared for a while from the field of vision of his boat's below-deck camera, which he had left running non-stop during the rescue, and when he returned, Kevin Escoffier suddenly appeared behind him in a survival suit. Le Cam had found his compatriot after an eight-hour search in five metre waves and around 30 knots of wind. Late yesterday evening, a total of four yachts were searching for Escoffier, who had been forced to abandon his "PRB" at around 2 p.m. after heavy water in six to seven metre swells.
Kevin Escoffier after his rescue
Le Cam had arrived at the last known position of the "PRB" at around 5 p.m. and had found Escoffier, but then lost sight of him again. He later spotted his flashing light. Under second reef and without a headsail or engine, he travelled at a speed of around 1.5 knots. Fortunately, a bright full moon in an almost starry sky helped in the search. The French sea rescuers had sent him drift calculations that helped to narrow down the area of his search. Meanwhile, Boris Herrmann with his "Seaexplorer", Yannick Bestaven ("Maître Coq") and Sébastien Simon ("Arkea Paprec") were also diverted to the scene of the accident. The first two arrived there at around 11 p.m. and also began their search, as can be clearly seen on the course of the race tracker.
But Jean Le Cam, of all people, who himself had to be rescued from his boat "VM Matériaux" by Vincent Riou on his "PRB" in the 2008 Vendée after the keel broke, now managed to rescue Escoffier. A bizarre twist of fate with reversed signs.
Escoffier has since provided initial details in a short interview conducted in French. It seems as if "PRB" had drilled into a large wave and then broken through smoothly in the centre. "The bow is folded up 90 degrees, just like in the film!" Another wave washed so much water into the ship that the entire electronics failed. The Frenchman then only had a few minutes left to put on his survival suit and make his way to the life raft. He was only able to send a text message to his team, after which communication was lost: "I need help. I'm sinking. This is no joke!"
He could not explain the failure and had reinforced the boat with around 200 kilos of additional carbon fibre laminate before the race. Escoffier is an engineer and has worked for many years as technical director for top teams; he played a key role in the development and construction of the maxi tris "Banque Populaire".
Escoffier is still visibly upset in the video, which was recorded a little later after the rescue. He struggles to hold back tears at some points, perhaps because he realises how narrowly he escaped, but then laughs again. When he regrets the loss of the boat, the 61-year-old Le Cam interjects and says that it was only a material loss, it was much more important that he was alive. In the end, Escoffier sums it up in one beautiful sentence: "When I saw Jean sailing towards me, I was sure: I'm saved"
The rescue described by Jean Le Cam
Jean Le Cam also later recounted the rescue from his perspective in a video:
"When I arrived at the position, I found Kevin in the life raft. I shouted to him that I was preparing the manoeuvre and would come back to him. It wasn't easy to manoeuvre, the wind was blowing 30 to 32 knots. When I got back to the position where I had found him, he was no longer there. I then made 5.6 manoeuvres but couldn't see him. I actually wanted to stay on standby until it got light, but then I thought to myself that I might be able to see his emergency light better in the dark and set off again.
Then I saw a light, a reflection on a wave. It was an unreal moment in which despair became hope. I drove to the light and it was Kevin. He shouted to me: "Are you coming back?" and I said: "No, we're going to do this right now!" I then positioned myself upwind of him and drifted towards him. Then I was able to throw him the rescue collar and he got hold of it. And then he was already on board."
The race organisers led by Jaques Caraes have now also given their version of events
"We always had a distress signal from Kevin, but we didn't know if he had the beacon on him because the signal was moving very randomly, jumping from one place to another. So we didn't know whether the EPIRB was in the life raft or even still in the boat, or whether it was drifting. But then we got the drift calculations and they matched the position of the EPIRB. We organised a triangular search with Boris and Yannick. They sailed patterns seven miles apart and loops 0.3 miles apart. They all sailed with the third reef, a recommendation from Jean because the local weather conditions were a struggle. Jean did seven search scans, then he had found Kevin."
After the successful rescue, the other three yachts returned to the race, including Boris Herrmann with his "Seaexplorer". It is still unclear what will happen to Escoffier, but he will not be able to sail on Le Cam's boat as there is probably not enough food on board. Le Cam as well as Herrmann, Bestaven and Simon will probably receive a time credit for their participation in the rescue operation, at least that is how it has been in similar cases so far.
