Salvador (Brazil) (AFP)
Jérémie Beyou (Charal), engaged in the Imoca class of the Transat Jacques Vabre with Christopher Pratt, assured Saturday that he had experienced "one of the worst moments" of his career after having remained three days mired in the Doldrums, this very meteorological zone. unstable and dreaded.
"It was really terrible, it was just one of the worst moments of my career," he said in a telephone conversation with his team.
Entering first in this area above the Equator, 130 nautical miles ahead of their pursuers Charlie Dalin and Yann Eliès (Apivia), the two unfortunate sailors came out after three days with 350 miles of delay.
The duo Dalin / Eliès is expected in the Brazilian port of Salvador de Bahia early Sunday morning to climb on the first step of the podium of this race on October 27th of Le Havre.
"At first, our entry into the Doldrums is not bad, at one point, we have a big grain with wind at 30 knots and behind, curtain! It never returned and especially, we have marked the ground for all those who came behind, it was blessed bread for them, they had only to shift to the east not to remain blocked, "said Jérémie Beyou.
"It was really very hard, because every time we had a little bit of thinning, we believed it, we had the impression of going out, and then at night, all the clouds that we had managed to pass by. "It was hell, like a carousel that never stops turning," he continued.
At 1700 GMT, the duo was third at 268.1 nautical miles from the leaders.
© 2019 AFP