Alain Maignan, a postman by trade, but passionate about sailing (14 years of racing, a Route du Rhum in 2002 and a single-handed round-the-world voyage from west to east in 2006-2007) had decided to set sail for a round-the-world voyage in reverse on 23 September 2017. A challenge against winds and currents that was already difficult, but all the more unusual as it was carried out on Schouten, a Sun Rise from the Jeanneau shipyards - a 10.20m production yacht built in 1986!
Whilst off Argentina, a collision during the night of Saturday 18th to Sunday 19th November brought the boat (probably a cetacean) to a halt. The accident, which occurred at around 2am, woke the skipper lying in his bunk, who at first thought it was a dismasting, given the noise. After a thorough check, he discovered that the forepeak, which is just in front of the bunk, was split in 2 places. He immediately lowered the sails to avoid additional pressure and had not noticed any ingress of water.
Two days later, on 21 November, Alain Maignant decided to turn back and think safety first. His objective? To bring his sailboat back to its home port of La-Trinité-Sur-Mer.
"Weakened by the main varangue (a piece of the ship's frame used in the transverse connecting bottoms between the keel and the frames) split in two places, Schouten is no longer 100% able to withstand the South Seas. The superficial consolidation in strata will hopefully suffice for the return voyage. After a few miles under reduced sail, it seems to be holding together, fingers crossed. (The skipper's morale is low) we've put so much effort into this project..., I console myself by thinking that I could have sunk on the spot or dismasted by the sudden stopover... whereas now I think I can make headway. I'm going to get closer to the ribs just in case.. After 2 days spent at the bottom of the boat with the smell of resin and 4-5 m waves, my appetite is not there, I hope it will come back soon" you can read on the adventure blog.
The skipper, discouraged by his damage, is now thinking about the long journey back to France. His consolidation seems to be holding up, and he is sailing downwind, with a smooth passage through the waves.
