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A sudden gust in the middle of the night
Armel Le Cléac'h was preparing to tack ahead of a weather front. He had already reduced his sail area in anticipation of stronger winds.
But a particularly violent gust caught the trimaran off guard. According to information gathered by its crew after the accident, the wind reportedly reached 40 knots. Despite its anti-capsizing devices, the Maxi Banque Populaire XI heeled over and then capsized in a matter of seconds.
The skipper, who was in the cockpit, managed to get inside the central hull to take cover.
Several hours of waiting before the rescue
Inside the capsized boat, Armel Le Cléac'h activated his distress beacon, put on his survival suit, and tried to contact his team on shore.
Satellite communications were hampered by the trimaran's carbon-fiber structure. The sailor was nevertheless able to confirm that he was unharmed.
A cargo ship was diverted to its location. After waiting for about seven to eight hours and making several attempts to approach the vessel in three- to four-meter-high waves, its crew managed to recover it.
In particular, the skipper recounts the difficulty of his transfer, during which he found himself in the water at the stern of the merchant ship.
Banque Populaire XI, Now the Focus of Attention
After spending six days aboard the cargo ship, Armel Le Cléac'h returned to dry land. Meanwhile, his team organized an operation to recover the trimaran, with the goal of righting it and then towing it to Lorient.
The navigator will now have to analyze the circumstances of the accident with his technical team.
In this video, Armel Le Cléac'h recounts the capsizing and rescue, from the final maneuvers on board to his evacuation on the open sea.
