Collision and capsize in the solo Route du Rhum race
Over 550 miles off the North Atlantic coast, two competitors in the Route du Rhum solo race suddenly collided with each other.
Sébastien Destremau was in 2nd place in the Mono division on his older IMOCA 60 Alcatraz It Faceocéan when he collided with Finnish sailor Ari Huusela in the IMOCA class on Ariel II.
Huusela was sailing on a westerly course, Destremau heading south, when the collision happened at around 0600 on 13 November. Huusela suffered some damage to his pushpit while Destremau reported damage to his bowsprit. Both were able to continue racing.
Destremau was in his bunk at the time, and Huusela was unable to rouse him.
Huusela explained: “I was inside the boat and saw on the AIS that there was some traffic coming. I saw the name of the boat and I called him three times on the VHF but there was no reply. I checked that we were not going to hit on the AIS but our speeds were varying a lot because of the gusts, sometimes we were going 10 and sometimes 17 knots.
“The thing I did not realise was the scale on my AIS was only 0.75 miles; the full screen was at less than a mile when he came into my screen. Normally I use 15 miles scale. I was bit tired and a bit disorientated and did not realise he was so close.
“Luckily I managed to get under him so he hit the back corner of my stern. His bowsprit came into my pushpit, which came off, and my runner went under his bowsprit and was broken.”
The following day, French skipper Lalou Roucayrol capsized on his Multi50 Arkema. Roucayrol was in 4th place in the Multi division, with approximately 1,000 miles to sail.
“I do not really know what happened. There was 25-30 knots, I had reduced sail before the squally gusts were coming in. I was not under any stress with one reef in the main and gennaker. I felt quite safe. But I did know that I had some water in my leeward float. Maybe it was half full of water – I can only think it was because of that.”
Roucayrol was unhurt and able to make himself safe within the central hull, even taking the enforced time off to catch up on some reading – aptly enough a book on positivity by French philosopher Émile Chartier.
Roucayrol was rescued by Pierre Antoine, then leading the Rhum Multi division, before being transferred to an ocean tug to retrieve Arkema. Fittingly, Antoine went on to win his class.
Unbelievably, when a tug reached Arkema, the crew found the trimaran drifting the right way up. Fabienne Roucayrol, team manager, explained: “We still can’t figure out how water got into the [starboard] float, but it must have continued to fill up while the boat was capsized. This most probably sank the float slowly and, with the help of the wind and a wave, the boat must have righted itself.”
‘I DID NOT REALISE THE SCALE ON MY AIS WAS ONLY 0.75 MILES’