Paris (AFP)

English sailor Samantha Davies (Initiatives-Coeur), forced to retire on Saturday in the Vendée Globe, still hopes to resume her world tour.

"Following the violent collision which occurred Wednesday evening at the level of the Initiatives-Coeur keel, Sam Davies cannot carry out repairs and checks alone at sea to continue his race in safety," explained his team.

Following this shock with an Ofni, the Briton had set sail for Cape Town on Wednesday to first assess the damage at sea. Before resolving herself.

“Unfortunately, I can't fix it on my own, there is too much damage, especially in the keel, you have to get the boat out of the water,” Davies explained. “It's too dangerous to enter the South Seas with it. all these unknowns. You really have to inspect everything. "

This round the world must be done "without assistance", the assistance that it will obtain in the South African marina will de facto put it out of the race.

But no question of putting down the suitcases.

“The race stops but I hope the adventure doesn't stop. I always said my mission was to go around the world on this boat. If I can fix the boat and go, I'm motivated to do it, "added the 12th-place driver at the time of the shock.

"The Vendée Globe is a huge adventure. I have always had a lot of respect for those who ended up out of the race. Isabelle Autisier, but also Enda (O'Coineen, editor's note), I think it's the last person who did that, long after Nick Moloney in a bowling accident, who ended up out of the race a year later. If I can be one of those adventurers, I will be, even if it's not easy because I am a competitor with a great boat, ”she added.

The descent of the Atlantic has already done a lot of damage, especially in the "latest generation" boats equipped with foils (large lateral appendages), with the abandonments of Nicolas Troussel (Corum L'Epargne), Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), Kevin Escoffier (PRB) and Sébastien Simon (Arkéa Paprec), Friday.

In Cape Town, however, Davies will be able to cheer himself up with Welshman Thomson and Simon.

"We will be able to tell each other our anecdotes. I had messages from Sam (Davies, editor's note) who was sorry for me. We said to ourselves that we were going to cry over a beer," Simon explained to Le Figaro .

If she leaves again, she will follow in the furrows of her companion, the Frenchman Romain Attanasio (Pure-Best Western) who was in 12th place on Saturday noon, away from the leader, the French skipper Charlie Dalin at the entrance to the Indian Ocean.

© 2020 AFP