Sailor Fabrice Amedeo narrowly escaped death at sea.
At the Route du Rhum transatlantic regatta, the Frenchman was already on his way to the Portuguese port of Cascais after a water ballast tank burst on Sunday, his boat was flooded, electronic "blackout" on board and smoke developed when an explosion shook his Imoca yacht on Monday.
A flash of flame and fire on board forced the solo sailor into the life raft.
From there he had to watch his yacht "Nexans - Art & Fenêtres" sink within 30 minutes.
The 44-year-old former journalist was rescued by the freighter "Maersk Brida" after around three hours in heavy seas.
Late Monday evening, Amedeo reported in detail on the rescue operation: "Death didn't want me today.
I'm devastated but the happiest man because my wife and daughters don't have to go to bed crying tonight."
Already two broken masts
Four of the 38 Imoca yachts that started in the record field of 138 transatlantic crossers have had to give up the 3,540 nautical miles (6,560 kilometers) long sailing regatta from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe, including two with broken masts.
After almost a week at sea, Boris Herrmann was in 14th place in the Imoca field on Tuesday morning.
The Hamburg native contests the first solo regatta with his new "Malizia - Seaexplorer".
In the optimization phase of the new building before the start, he made arrival the most important goal.
At the head of the Route-du-Rhum fleet, Charles Caudrelier (“Maxi Edmond de Rothschild”) and François Gabart (“SVR-Lazartigue”) fight for the “Line Honors” for the first in the “giant duel” on huge trimarans Boat across the finish line in this twelfth edition of the transatlantic classic.