Paris (AFP)
Thomas Coville and Jean-Luc Nélias were forced to abandon the Brest Atlantiques sailing, "a choice primarily related to their safety and the integrity of the boat," said their team Sodebo Friday night.
This abandonment follows the damage suffered by the Sodebo Ultim 3, aggravated on Tuesday by the loss of the rear of the starboard float, whose saffron had been damaged after hitting an Ofni (unidentified floating object) on the 12th day of the race.
"By investigating more deeply, it was discovered that the starboard foil had also been impacted, which prevents us from continuing safely, in the performance worthy of the Brest Atlantic and what we had done so far," explained skipper Thomas Coville.
"It's a great frustration to have to give up," he added.
Sodebo is not the only one in the fleet to have suffered damage. Thursday, the one barred by Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild) made a stop in Salvador de Bahia (Brazil) for a problem of central drift, and that of François Gabart and Gwnénolé Gahinet (Trimaran Macif) stopped in Rio to replace the saffron of the central hull.
Starting on November 5th, the race is a 14,000 nautical mile long loop (around 26,000km) via Rio and Cape Town. The winner is expected in Brest around 6-7 December.
© 2019 AFP