Another cancelled transatlantic race
This is the end for Sailing Kalispera. Having left for Martinique at the beginning of January 2019, Arnaud and Mélanie had to turn around again after three days of sailing. "After 24 hours, we heard a really strange and loud noise on the rudder. After three days, we turned around, because we had 17 days left to cross the ocean."
A three-day return that will be carried out upwind in nearly 3 m of troughs at 25/30 knots of wind. And which will herald the beginning of serious problems with a total of three waterways. "We took the water without understanding what it was. We had water up to our ankles when we were 48 hours off the coast. We freaked out, took out the evacuation bags and prepared for survival. We were scooping faster than the water was rising. Anyway, we were scared."
Water filled the anchor locker, which spilled into the sail compartment and then into the forward cabins. "There's a defect on our anchor locker. The battery was even found underwater. We were able to stabilize the boat in downwind conditions and limit the water ingress. We held 48 hours to the island of El Hierro, in the Canary Islands, facing some deep cavities."
After a great fright, the crew was happy to be back on land.
New galleys
Initially, the boat was scheduled to be out of the water on February 28. On the program, repair of the rudder and bow thruster. But once again, not everything went as planned
Back in France - after leaving the boat in the Canaries - Arnaud and Mélanie returned to the Spanish archipelago at the end of February, as planned. But now they still have to wait another 15 days to see Kalispera come out of the water. "When we got out of the water, we had to wait a week to meet the site manager who informed us that he had to contact Jeanneau to order the missing part. Deadline announced, 10 days. We also had to order a new bow thruster since ours had been drowned in seawater and wait another 7 days. Holidays, congresses and Easter extend the execution of the worksite to the end of April..."
The return to the Var with the boat is scheduled for May.
The end of the journey
After the failure of the two transatlantic races, Arnaud and Mélanie questioned their round the world trip for several reasons: logistics, finance, time, energy, etc. One round the Atlantic had therefore given way to a round the world trip. But in the end, this overflow of emotions and mechanical problems overwhelmed their motivation.
This is the end of the Sailing Kalispera adventure. A failure that is not a failure since they will have experienced beautiful emotions throughout these few months. Now it is time to return to Earth life and find the girls who have stayed with their father since the damage began. "We had no chance."
