Jérémie Beyou, has confirmed that he will re-start the Vendee Globe on Tuesday despite the leaders being around 2,500 nm south, and approaching the Doldrums.
Beyou, who was the outstanding favourite to win the race, had to sail 600 miles back to Les Sables d’Olonne after he hit a floating object on Charal on the third evening of the the solo non stop around the world race.
The impact damaged one of Charal’s rudders, its mounting and control mechanisms, broke a backstay and there was sundry composite damage to the deck of his IMOCA.
A round the clock team effort by up to 20 people who worked flat out since the bitterly disappointed Beyou docked his boat back in Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday afternoon, has returned the boat to 100% of its potential, according the solo racer who finished third on the last Vendée Globe.
He explained, “The main problem, the one that made me turn back, was the issue with the rudder. Technically, however the most problematic to repair was the traveller, but actually it was the rudder mounting and the control arm which had broken, and it is a structural part of the boat.
We had to survey the damage first to see where the water had leaked in to and up to where. We needed to repair this on both sides. We had to work with a whole series of experts to figure this out and all within the time constraints.
We also had some wind vane issues, and main sail damage from the series of gybes when the rudder hit something.”
“After all that we will see what happens back on the sea. I really prefer to have no expectations, I don’t want to set any goals. I don’t know what we will discover. So we will see.”
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