Drekan's capsizing
In the Transat Jacques Vabre, this Wednesday 8th November 2017, a little before 10 pm French time, the Multi50 Drekan group - led by Eric Defert and Christopher Pratt - capsized. The boat was sailing east of the Azores downwind in 25 knots of NE'ly wind with violent squalls at 35 knots and cross seas. When the incident occurred, the boat was not on automatic pilot.
The two skippers had time to take shelter in the cockpit before their boat turned over completely. Dressed in their survival suits, they triggered their Cospas Sarsat beacon. The MRCC of Punta Delgada received the distress call at 2058 UTC and notified race management. Christopher Pratt alerted race management via the emergency Iridium phone to report that neither man was injured.
As the Multi50 was 380 miles from the island of Terceira (Azores), no helicopter had the autonomy to go to the zone. The MRCC therefore decided to reroute the nearest MRV Beautriton freighter, flying the Dutch flag, 30 miles away from the overturned trimaran. A Portuguese Navy patrol vessel was also chartered on site to assist in the search operations.
The freighter was able to find the overturned vessel and make contact with the two seamen, advising the MRCC of its discovery at 0134. Because of the weather conditions, they decided to wait until daybreak to proceed with the rescue and to stand by the wreck. Beautriton launched a lifeboat on Thursday, November 9 to recover the two seamen unharmed. The freighter is now heading for Georgetown in the United States.
The wreck of the boat is now adrift in the Atlantic and not geolocalised. Indeed, at the request of the MRCC and in accordance with International Maritime Regulations, Eric Defert switched off the Sarsat beacon before leaving the boat. The Sarsat beacon is only used for locating and rescuing sailors. It is not yet known whether recovery measures will be put in place, given the estimated drift of the beacon.
This capsize is a hard blow for the skipper, who had had a hard time making ends meet, calling on local solidarity before setting out from Le Havre.
Abandonment of the French Campaign
On 7th November last, the Class40 Campagne de France suffered serious damage following a brutal "heap" start, causing the high bracket holding the port rudder to break. Deprived of a rudder, Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron had to go to port to repair. They therefore decided to abandon the race.
