Thomas Ruyant, who was previously in second place, experienced what all skippers of boats with foils fear. Last night, the foil on the port side of the "LinkedOut" was damaged. Ruyant had to stop for a short time to assess the damage and says he will not be able to use the foil for the rest of the race.
Ruyant told his team that it was around 02:00 UTC this morning when he was resting in his boat and that he was woken up by a loud noise outside the boat. However, he did not feel a thump. When he inspected the boat with his headlamp, he immediately noticed large cracks in the upper part of the port foil. Ruyant stopped the boat and sailed into the wind to investigate the damage further.
"I was about 120 degrees to the wind, sailing at about 20 knots, when I heard this loud noise," Ruyant reported this morning. "I have no real explanation. I fully retracted the foil. I was able to inspect it in daylight. The shaft seems to be fine. No water is coming in. But the foil itself is torn in several places. "
Ruyant is massively disappointed. He was close to the leader Dalin and had a great race so far. Although shocked, the "LinkedOut" skipper remains positive:
"I'm second in the Vendée Globe. Since Sunday, I've accumulated small problems that I've dealt with, but they're really outweighed by this damage. I'm still going to keep going, even if I'm a bit handicapped with only one foil. But I console myself with the knowledge that I still have my starboard foil, which is statistically the most important for a race around the world. The course is still very long. I'll keep going, I'll keep at it!"
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
