In an interview with Vendée Globe TV, Escoffier gave an insight into the course of his rescue.
The damage
Kevin Escoffier on his rescue
It's unbelievable what happened - it just folded the boat at 27 knots of speed on a wave. I heard the loud bang, but honestly, it wasn't necessary to hear it to understand what had happened. I looked at the bow. It was pointing 90 degrees into the sky. In a few seconds there was water everywhere. The stern was under water and the bow was pointing skywards. The boat broke in half in front of the bulkhead at the mast. It was as if it was being folded up. I swear it was like that! I'm not exaggerating. I should have taken a photo!
To the Mayday
I didn't have time to do anything, I could only send a text message to my team: "I'm sinking. I'm not joking. Mayday." Just two minutes passed between the moment I stood outside trimming sails and the moment I found myself in a survival suit.
Organisation of the rescue
"I came out of the boat and put on the survival suit. I could see smoke. The electrics were on fire. Everything was blowing up. My only reflex was to grab the phone and send the message to the team. I always have the suit to hand. I wanted to grab the grab bag in case of an emergency, but the water was already so high that I couldn't reach it. I grabbed the life raft at the stern. I couldn't get in when it was open because it was under water. The water was already up to the hatch in the cockpit.
Jumping into the life raft
I would have liked to stay on board longer, but I saw how quickly the ship was sinking. A breaker caught me and I was suddenly in the water with the life raft. Being in a life raft in 35 knots of wind doesn't exactly inspire confidence. I was relieved when I saw Jean. But the problem was how he could get me on board. We shouted a few words to each other as he sailed past. It really was a battlefield out there. He had to sail a bit away from me, but I could see that he was staying close to me. I had prepared to stay in the life raft, transferring the next day when there was less wind and daylight. I was ready for a night in the life raft. It was even surprisingly stable in the swell.
The rescue
I suddenly heard a sail flapping, stuck my head out of the life raft and there was Jean, maybe 200 metres away. I wasn't sure if the weather would allow a manoeuvre. He shouted: "We're doing it now!" and tried to let his boat drift towards me. He missed me by a few metres, but I caught the line he threw and pulled me on board. The swell was still around 3.5 metres. It's hard to climb aboard an Open 60 in conditions like that, especially when you're wearing a survival suit. Luckily I'm fit. It's really not easy.
On board "Yes We Cam"
Once I had pulled myself onto the cockpit floor, we fell into each other's arms. He said to me: "You're on board, you're on board, Kevin! That was difficult!" I replied: "I'm sorry I messed up your race!". He just replied: "It doesn't matter, last time I messed up Vincent's race!"
What now?
At the moment I don't know what will happen next. We'll discuss it with the race organisers. I've just slept for two hours and I'm refreshed. I did everything I could with the boat, strengthened it and everything. I have no regrets.
Later, Vendée TV also interviewed Boris Herrmann, who was visibly exhausted from the night and reported how they coordinated the search patterns:
"I was fully focussed on my task. I was assigned a search sector, which I had to search very carefully - with only 600 metres between the individual passages. It took me an hour to sail one passage. So it would have taken me 15 to 20 hours to search the entire search area that I had been allocated. At that moment, of course, you realise how incredibly large the search area is and that we are looking for a needle in a haystack. I was very, very motivated and tried to look in all directions as best I could."
"At the same time, it was foreseeable that we wouldn't be able to keep a lookout for 10 hours straight. It was extremely cold at night, with a high swell and spray coming over the deck. It was great to see that the race organisers diverted all the boats that were available nearby and that we could search together with a fleet. We gave luck a chance and luck eventually led to Kevin being found. That's a huge relief and now the tension has eased. Of course, there is also a certain sadness and my thoughts are with him. I'm already back to my normal racing, but my head isn't quite where the race is yet. But that will certainly come soon. In any case, I'm giving myself a bit of time today to let things sink in."
