Kevin Escoffier recovered by the French Navy after being rescued by Jean Le Cam during the Vendée Globe, December 6, 2020. -

AFP PHOTO / MARINE NATIONALE / Pauline Bellalin

From the outside, the wait seemed endless.

So one can only imagine the anguish within the family of Kevin Escoffier when she learned that the sailor had triggered his distress beacon on November 30 during the Vendée Globe.

Sabrina Millien, the wife of the

PRB

skipper

, recounts this trying moment in a text published Tuesday on the

Voiles et Voiliers

magazine website 

.

It all started at 3:00 p.m., with a call from the boss of PRB.

"I receive this phone call so dreaded by all seafaring wives and husbands: 'Where are you? Are you all alone? Sab, Kevin has triggered his distress beacon. For the moment we have no more information. I'll call you back."

And there, everything collapses, she explains.

The legs are shaking.

Tears rise.

But we must recover and warn the rest of the family before the information goes out publicly.

"

Two hours later, she learns that Jean Le Cam spotted her.

“The emotion of this moment, I am not about to forget it.

We crack again, but this time with relief.

He is fine.

It is alive.

Now we have to wait for Jean Le Cam to pick it up.

Her mother and a friend joined her at home to support her, soon imitated by other relatives who come to spend the night by her side, waiting for another phone call.

She decides not to tell her children for now.

At 9:00 p.m., still nothing.

On the contrary, the news is not good.

The conditions are bad, Le Cam - like Bestaven, Simon and Herrmann, the other competitors who came as reinforcements - no longer saw Kevin Escoffier.

“Panic takes hold of me.

I am turning livid.

Atrocious ideas cross my mind, writes Sabrina Millien, who knows the world of sailing and ocean racing very well and has worked there for a long time.

I am giving up.

I entrust my phone to my friends so that I can no longer manage calls, no longer see messages, I have no room to absorb the anguish of all the people who write to me.

"

In Les Sables, January 28 to thank Jean Le Cam

At 12:30 am, “her head on the verge of explosion”, she tries to “distract her mind” by watching a movie with three friends.

She ends up falling asleep, while the others watch over her phone.

Finally, at 2:13 am, the issue.

"The phone rings, they wake me up" Sab! Sab! "

I pick up the phone and hear: "Sab it's okay. He's on board with Jean."

End of the nightmare.

"

Our Vendée Globe dossier

After a few days aboard

Yes We Cam

, Kevin Escoffier will be picked up by the French Navy, before returning to France.

Sabrina will be going to Les Sables-d'Olonnes on January 28 to welcome Jean Le Cam and say a little to him: “Thank you for bringing him back to me.

"

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