Forced to stopover in Ushuaïa Yannick Bestaven announces his withdrawal from the Vendée Globe
by Vendée Globe media 30 Dec 2024 00:53 PST
30 December 2024
Vendée Globe 2024 © Yannick Bestaven
After announcing a major breakdown to the steering system of the IMOCA Maître CoQ V's on Friday 27 December, damage which us impossible to repair at sea, Yannick Bestaven, in consultation with his technical team, has taken the decision to stopover in Ushuaïa to repair the various breakdowns suffered in recent days.
As this work cannot be carried out alone, Yannick will be joined on Monday by part of his technical team in Argentina. Such an intervention means the withdrawal of Yannick Bestaven and Maître CoQ V from this 10th edition of the Vendée Globe.
While sailing in around thirty knots, in rough seas (5 meters of waves), towards Cape Horn, Yannick Bestaven contacted his technical team on land on Friday December 27 at 9 p.m. UT (10 p.m. French time) to warn them of a major breakdown to the steering system for the Maître CoQ V monohull.
The sailboat had become unmaneuverable but the skipper, an engineer, did manage to set up a temporary solution, using ropes to steer his boat towards Cape Horn but in degraded mode. Bestaven went on to round the third Cape of the course on Sunday December 29.
After assessing the situation and studying the different options with the Maître CoQ sailing team, Bestaven has decided to stopover in Ushuaïa (Argentina) to repair his boat with his team. He should reach Argentina on Monday December 30. A carefully considered decision which highlights the character of the skipper who celebrated his 52nd birthday the day before yesterday.
Determined but not stubborn Bestaven has made the reasonable choice, given the various technical problems that he has encountered this past week. Intelligence and humility prevailed in the face of the accumulating damage.
Initially Bestaven faced the loss of his Code 0 on Tuesday 24 December, damaging his starboard foil when recovering his sail from the water. A few days later it was his FR0 (one of the headsails) that exploded while Maître CoQ broached in a squall, Bestaven also noticed outer skin problems on the starboard aft quarter of the boat hull.
These technical problems, coupled with the damage to the steering system, made the IMOCA Maître CoQ V uncontrollable, and so did not guarantee the integrity of the sailor and the boat. The skipper from La Rochelle rounded Cape Horn in the race on Sunday 29 December in the evening, and should reach the Argentinian coast during the day on Monday 30 December.
His technical and sporting director, Jean Marie Dauris, his boat captain Stan Delbarre, his rigging manager Yvan Joucla and his composites expert Ludo Bosser, as well as the engineer Arnaud Chaigne in charge of the on-board electronics will take a flight on Monday 30 December to join him as soon as possible and begin the reconditioning work.
Before the start the 2020-21 race winner Bestaven had announced that this Vendée Globe marked his last solo race. Even if the race is not going to end as he had imagined, Bestaven is still keen to sail his boat Maître CoQ V solo back to Les Sables d'Olonne, once it is reliable. His team say an adventure outside of the race will then begin. Bestaven who has always shown resilience and unfailing strength of character, wants to write the sequel and the end of his story alone, before starting a new chapter in his career as a sailor.
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