Paris (AFP)

Two days after Kevin Escoffier's sinking, two Vendée Globe top 10 skippers, Sébastien Simon and Samantha Davies, are in trouble Thursday in the terrible southern seas after their boats hit an ofni (unidentified floating object).

While the head of the race has been brilliantly led for almost ten days by Charlie Dalin (Apivia), it is disarray that has invaded Simon (Arkéa Paprec) and Davies (Initiatives-Cœur).

The two sailors saw their boat suffer heavy damage on Wednesday.

At around 9 a.m. French time, Simon, who is taking part in his first Vendée Globe at the helm of a latest-generation + steering wheel + boat, noticed significant damage to the starboard foil (one of the two side appendages allowing the sailboat to go live pace).

"I'm a little upset, disgusted, I don't know what to say, I want to continue this world tour, I didn't deserve that, it's an incredible injustice," said Simon.

The 30-year-old skipper, who was coming back strong in the lead pack after being diverted to help with the search for Escoffier's rescue, spoke Thursday at noon during a liaison with the organization, still very marked and proven.

"And as trouble never comes alone, every two hours I have to go pump under the cockpit, in a not pleasant place", he added while another part broke on his boat .

- 'I flew in the boat' -

Samantha Davies, also told, taken by the emotion, her incident which occurred Wednesday evening, during which she was injured.

"I was moving between 15 and 22 knots in a complicated sea. I tapped as if I was on the heels of a rock: I came to a stop. There were creaks. I flew, everything in the boat flew, y including my dinner. It was violent, I hurt myself ", explained the English sailor, who suffers from the ribs.

The keel was damaged, causing cracks.

Davies and Simon look for a somewhat calm sea to try to repair.

"It's a brutal situation for Sam (Davies), she's shocked, it's hard," said race director Jacques Caraës, who knows only too well the harshness of the southern seas.

"It is a very hostile region, damage in these regions is all the more complex. These are risk areas, we are far from everything. In these areas, there are systems of depression which occur. combine, which gives a consequent wave train, which is why the boats go very fast ", noted Caraës.

At the very end of the fleet, Jérémie Beyou (Charal), ex-favorite for the win, however, is advancing very slowly.

And despairs.

"I have suffered since I left: it gets blocked every time in front of me," whispered Beyou, forced to turn around two days after the start to repair before leaving nine days after everyone else.

"I try to take things from day to day. In front of me, they are not very fast and I am even slower," he lamented.

© 2020 AFP