The Route du Rhum race saw dramatic developments overnight as Francis Joyon was confirmed safe after being rescued by a cargo ship late Monday. The 2018 winner of the event had capsized in the Celtic Sea on the second day of the competition and is scheduled to be disembarked in Ireland.
In the Ultim trimaran category, Charles Caudrelier encountered a major incident early Tuesday morning. Just hours after Joyon's recovery, Caudrelier alerted his shore team to damage on the port foil of the newly launched Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. The accident occurred while sailing downwind approximately 400 nautical miles north of the Azores, in three-meter seas with northerly winds between 20 and 25 knots. At the time of the incident, Caudrelier was holding fourth position in the Ultim fleet.
According to a statement from Caudrelier's team, the skipper is well and the situation is under control. He is currently working with his shore support to secure the damaged foil while conducting further investigations on board to assess the full extent of the damage. His routing cell is simultaneously studying various scenarios for the remainder of the race. This marks the second major incident in the Ultim class, following Anthony Marchand's earlier decision to return to Ireland after a rudder issue.
Despite these setbacks, Tom Laperche aboard SVR Lazartigue maintained his commanding lead in the race as of Tuesday at 07:00 GMT+1. Laperche holds an advantage of 55 nautical miles over Armel Le Cléac'h on Banque Populaire and 126.7 nautical miles ahead of Thomas Coville on Sodebo.
Other categories also reported significant activity and damage. In the Imoca monohull class, Corentin Horeau (MACSF) took the lead amidst reports of equipment failures. Les P’tits Doudous suffered a rudder issue, and Armel Tripon contacted his team regarding damage to one of his two rudders while sailing downwind at over 20 knots, roughly 650 nautical miles northeast of the Azores. Violette Dorange remains stopped in Roscoff after colliding with Romain Pilliard's trimaran on Sunday.
In the Ocean Fifty class, Basile Bourgnon (Edenred) continues to lead the fleet. The Class40 standings are currently dominated by Luca Rossetti (Maccaferri Futura). As of Tuesday morning, the provisional podiums reflect Laperche's dominance in multihulls and Horeau's position at the top of the monohull rankings.
Sources: Le Figaro.