Thomas Ruyant, whose boat Le Souffle du Nord for Le Projet Imagine was threatening to open in two, finally reached the small port of Bluff in New Zealand. This Tuesday 20th December at 11h30, he informed his shore team that he had been joined by two New Zealanders to help him empty the forward compartment of his boat.
"J' have two New Zealanders on board my boat. We are installing a motor pump to try to empty the forward compartment. I have 8 knots of wind and flat seas. I think I can say that I'm going to save Le Souffle du Nord and we're going to get it to port. Since passing the southern tip of New Zealand, everything is safe, I think. We're safe. The boat is currently stinging forward, but we're stabilising the situation. A few hours ago, I thought the story of my proud hummingbird boat was over. I couldn't make it to the goal in 45 knots of wind. I was inside with my finger on the button of the evacuation beacon. I thought I was definitely losing Le Souffle du Nord. I was leaving for the lof every two minutes. My sailboat was out of control with an exploded steering system. The rigging was totally slack and I had no runners. Everything was hanging by a thread! After this bad moment and the passage of this famous cape, I understood that I was going to get out of it. I had a moment of fullness with a sunset of anthology along the coast of New Zealand."
Since then, Thomas has gone ashore and managed to save his boat! He will have sailed half of a Vendée Globe, around 12,000 miles, and proved to be a good competitor for his first round the world voyage. At the time of his collision with a UFO, he was in 8th position and had been competing with the well-known Jean Le Cam for a good part of the course.
Here are these first words, less than an hour away from the port of Bluff:
"It's brutal! Everything stops in an instant. When I woke up, thrown by the impact on the bottom of the boat, I guessed that it was very serious. All I could think about was saving my boat. In my misfortune, I found myself close to inhabited coastlines. I shudder to think what my story would have been like if it had happened in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For the first time, I really felt in danger. As I approached New Zealand, I had up to 45 knots of wind! Water invaded the forward compartment. I had my finger on my distress beacon and I was about to set everything off. After passing the south-western tip of New Zealand, the sea and the wind calmed down and I was gratified by an extraordinary sunset over the New Zealand mountains, just for me. Since then, I have been torn between immense sadness and relief. I'm bringing back a very seriously injured boat, my Vendée Globe is over and I won't be going up the channel in Les Sables! But I was well into my race. Up until the impact, in spite of the accumulation of problems, I was in the race and I was already thinking about the Pacific, where I was expecting some pretty mild conditions. Nothing prepares us for that, although we're still thinking about it. The damage, the mechanical incident which led to the abandonment. When that happens to you, it rings a bell. It's hard to believe. I'm also in a state of extreme emotional fatigue and that prevents me from seeing things coldly. I feel sympathy all around me. But it doesn't change my reality. The Vendée Globe is over for me.
