On July 21, 2019, the Austrian sailor Norbert Sedlacek set off from Les Sables-d'Olonne for a 34,000 nautical mile round-the-world voyage across five oceans. aboard his 60-foot prototype, Open60AAL, built of volcanic rock fiber, balsa wood and biocompatible epoxy, he is attempting a double record: to be the first to circumnavigate the globe via both capes, and to validate the construction process using new materials.
But after 4 days at sea, the navigator decided to stop momentarily. During the night of July 24th to 25th, the wind picked up and one of the headsails was torn off before going under the hull and wrapping around the keel and rudders. The skipper was able to free the sail and limit the damage.
This Thursday morning, July 25, he was sailing along the southwest coast of Ireland under reduced sail in a still strong headwind and 5 m swell.
Due to the scope of the project, Norbert Sedlacek made the decision to stop and assess the damage and the possibility of leaving to complete the Northwest Passage this year.
As a reminder, the man had already had to abandon his world tour during his first attempt in July 2018. After two days, he had turned back due to the unreliability of his boat.
