The string of bad news just won't stop. Late yesterday evening, the tracker suddenly showed that Thomas Ruyant had turned his "LinkedOut" and was only travelling at just under 3 knots. The explanation for this came at around 23:00: his boat had taken on water at the bow, which was fortunately trapped in the watertight compartments of the Open 60. The boats have such bulkheads in the foredeck, which are designed to prevent the entire hull from filling up quickly in the event of a high-speed collision.
According to him, a shaft had probably opened one of the front bulkheads. However, Ruyant was able to quickly rectify the problem with the pumps. "I was travelling at a good 25 knots when it must have happened. I just realised that the bow of the boat suddenly dipped too low."
Ruyant got back on course during the night and is now travelling at a boat speed of almost 20 knots again. He lost over 100 nautical miles to the leader Yannick Bestaven, who was now 127 miles ahead of him with his "Maître Coq" at the position update at 6am. Sailing 25 miles behind Ruyant is Charlie Dalin, who yesterday repaired the centreboard box of his "Apivia" after it had come loose from the bottom of the ship's hull.
Frenchman Sebastien Destremau also reported a technical problem yesterday from the back of the field: on his "Merci", a suspension arm of the rudder mechanism broke off. In a video, he shows that the bolt has sheared off directly from the bearing. He is now working on a repair.
Boris Herrmann is still sailing in the chasing group behind Dalin, currently in sixth place. Yesterday he sent a video from on board in which he was briefly annoyed at having lost miles overnight to some of the boats in the group. Under gennaker and with the foil fully deployed, he is now trying to make up ground. "It's motivating to sail in a group. I've had enough of being alone," says the German.
Boris Herrmann off board
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
