Yachting World 0shares
Kevin Escoffier’s Vendée Globe rescue from a liferaft adrift in the Roaring Forties was the result of incredible seamanship. Helen Fretter spoke to him, and the team that co-ordinated the search
“I AM SINKING. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. MAYDAY”
At 1345 (UTC) on Monday 30 November, on a grey and lumpy South Atlantic some 840 miles south-west of Cape Town, Kevin Escoffier was 3rd in the single-handed Vendée Globe when his boat, the IMOCA 60
PRB, suddenly and catastrophically broke up. Escoffier had time only to send a three line Whatsapp message to his shore team before all communication with the boat was lost. It would be 11 hours before anyone on land heard from him again. This is the story of his stunning Vendée rescue.
Share this article
by Shrivathsa Sridhar (Reuters) – Frenchman Yannick Bestaven was declared the winner of the Vendee Globe round-the-world sailing race early last week after he was handed a time bonus of over 10 hours for his role in rescuing a fellow competitor.
The 48-year-old aboard ‘Maitre CoQ IV’ finished with a time of 80 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds, crossing the line after compatriots Charlie Dalin and Louis Burton at Les Sables d’Olonne, France.
However, a time compensation of 10 hours and 15 minutes for his role in the rescue of Frenchman Kevin Escoffier – whose boat sank during the race – meant Bestaven finished with a better time than Dalin and Burton, who finished second and third.
Pokal-Hammer für Wolfsburg, Werder und Kiel haben s leichter ndr.de - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ndr.de Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.