Record attempt on the rocks
Two skippers attempting an around the world record against the prevailing winds and currents ran aground in the Patagonian channels, having sought shelter after rounding Cape Horn.
Romain Pilliard and Alex Pella were attempting to break the ‘world’s toughest sailing record’, a non-stop circumnavigation from east to west, in the trimaran Use It Again! (the 75ft Nigel Irens design, originally Ellen Macarthur’s B&Q).
When the pair reached Tierra del Fuego winds were above 40 knots, gusting 53, so they took shelter in the lee of Isla de los Estados in the Lemaire Strait rather than attempt a rounding.
After 36 hours, they passed Cape Horn on 3 February in 30-40 knot headwinds, severe sea states, and freezing temperatures.
However, after rounding the Cape, there was no let-up in conditions. The team’s router, Christian Dumard, forecast a Force 7-8 storm in the South Pacific and the team opted to shelter in Cook Bay, at the entrance to the Beagle Channel in western Chile on 4 February. Unable to anchor or motor, the two co-skippers had been constantly manoeuvring the 75ft trimaran under sail in poorly charted Patagonian channels, with highly changeable wind conditions that varied from flat calm to sudden gusts rising from 10 to 50 knots. The trimaran suffered a broken batten and batten car in the process.
On 9 February Use it Again! ran aground in Cook Bay. Pilliard reported: “It was 1 am local time when a loud noise woke me up.
The boat came to a stop. I immediately understood…
“We [had been taking] turns at the helm… sailing in Cook’s Bay overnight to be in place on 9 February for a new depression and ready for a possible window exit towards the Pacific.
“Alex was on watch, and it was my turn to rest. After more than a month at sea, fatigue has accumulated and Alex has settled inside and fell asleep. This is an actual nightmare! I don’t really have the words. I am devastated.
“The trimaran is literally resting on the rocks, we are stuck in a mouse hole with rocks all around us. It’s surreal.”
The Chilean Navy was able to extract Use it Again!, but the central hull and daggerboard had sustained damage during the grounding and the boat is now in Ushuaia for repairs.
The 34,000-mile ‘wrong way’ non-stop round the world course against prevailing winds and currents is considered one of the toughest challenges in sailing. It has been set as a solo record only five times since 1971, with the current time standing since Jean-luc Van Den Heede set it in 122 days in 2000.
Pilliard, a Figaro racer and IMOCA crew, teamed up with experienced Spanish co-skipper Alex Pella, who set the
Jules Verne record with Francis Joyon in 2017. Their objective was not only to set a new record, but to do so on a sustainable platform, having refitted the 2005-launched trimaran and used many recycled components. Pilliard has pledged to continue. Follow at useitagain. earth