A capsizing and a helicopter winching
On Monday 26th October, Lionel Lemonchois and Roland Jourdain were victims of a capsize aboard the Ultime Prince de Bretagne. The two sailors were heading south from the Bay of Biscay. While they had decided to wait for their shore crew to be repatriated, the weather conditions decided otherwise. The duo had to activate their distress beacon on Tuesday 27th October at around 15:30 UTC.
A helicopter from the MRCC Madrid also came to their rescue 150 miles northwest of A Coruña. Lionel Lemonchois and Roland Jourdain were repatriated to the port of A Coruña around 8 pm. They were safe and sound, but had to abandon the boat.
Helicopter landing of Roland Jourdain - credit: Salvamento Maritime - MRCC Madrid
Helicopter landing - credit: Salvamento Maritime - MRCC Madrid
Organising the rescue of the maxi trimaran Prince de Bretagne
On Wednesday 28th October last, Lionel Lemonchois, Roland Jourdain and their team, who had put everything in place in A Coruña to organise the repatriation of the Maxi80 Prince de Bretagne, which has been lying upside down 150 miles north-west of Galicia since she capsized, had to change their plans.
The weather situation in the area was clearly bad and is not expected to improve before the end of the weekend. "There are strong south-south-westerly winds and six metre high waves at the moment and it's not going to get any better in the coming days. In these conditions, it's impossible to envisage picking up the boat and towing it before Sunday." explained Dominique Vittet, the team's technical manager.
The drifting trimaran should get closer to the Breton coasts than to those of Spain. "As a result, I've repatriated Gurloës Merrien and Patrice Richardot, who set off for La Coruña yesterday, as well as the two skippers. They're all going to drive back. As they're quite tired, they're going to make a stopover late this evening in Bayonne. They'll sleep there and then, tomorrow morning, they'll take advantage of being there to go and see a boat that could be used to rescue Prince de Bretagne" added Dominique Vittet on Wednesday.
Credit: Marcel Mochet
The team arrived in Bayonne at 9:30 pm on Wednesday 28th October and went straight to see a boat which might be suitable for picking up and towing the Maxi80 Prince de Bretagne. And this is the case, as after completing the various compulsory formalities and then gathering together all the equipment required for such an operation, a boat was chartered.
The two co-skippers, accompanied by Patrice Richardot and Gurloës Merrien, set sail this morning at 10.15 am on board "Jiss Xplorer", a former 40-metre tuna boat, now converted into a workboat and perfectly equipped. As such they should reach the zone where the trimaran is upside down tomorrow, at midday (1500 hours), after around thirty hours at sea, and then begin towing towards Lorient, their home port, as soon as possible.
Save the Maxi80 Prince of Brittany
Since his arrival ashore, Lionel Lemonchois has thought of only one thing: saving his boat. He and his team have therefore put everything in place so that the operation can begin as quickly as possible. However, there was one thing that could not be controlled: the weather. "Recently, the situation has calmed down considerably in the southern Bay of Biscay. This is why we decided not to waste any time and to leave this morning. Yesterday, we had time to organise the logistics and then to gather the five tons of chains, the 200 metres of long ropes and all the other things necessary for our mission", explained Lionel this morning as he left the Bayonnais port dock.
Credit: DR
"The ", detailed the Norman skipper, specifying that his multihull continues to drift in the Gulf towards the French coast and that he is now 250 miles south-west of Lorient.
Two possible options
" is a very beautiful boat. She is equipped with a crane and all the handling equipment we will need. Her cruising speed is twelve knots. This will allow us to reach the area where Prince of Brittany is tomorrow in the middle of the day. The positive point is that this is precisely the time when conditions should be at their calmest this weekend" Lionel Lemonchois stressed, without hiding his clear preference for the first solution, which would clearly be less damaging for the boat.
Bilou's unfailing support
"Once we get close to the trimaran, the idea is to take her in tow, but we've considered a second option, which is to turn her over at sea in the event that towing her upside down is not possible. That's in fact what we were forced to do a year and a half ago off Brazil, following my capsize on the Mauritian's record attempt" said Lionel, whose ability to bounce back and move forward impresses his sidekick.
Credit: DR
"It's really important for me to get Prince of Brittany back and I'm touched because Bilou wants to go with me to the end of this story we started together."bim-bam"I'm really amazed at Lionel's resilience. There's a big glitch, but " noted Roland Jourdain, who knows the urgency of the situation so that the boat's beacon does not stop transmitting, and that it will take them at least three days to reach Morbihan once Prince de Bretagne is safe and well attached to the tug.
