[ad_1]
The 40-year-old Escoffier mentioned he was compelled to desert his yacht after a wave “folded the boat in two” off the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, on Monday.
“I put my head down within the cockpit, a wave was coming. I had time to ship one textual content earlier than the wave fried the electronics. It was utterly loopy.”
Race organizers responded by diverting Le Cam on a rescue mission, with the Frenchman the closest competitor to the scene.
The 61-year-old had made preliminary visible and voice contact together with his compatriot but it surely took a number of makes an attempt to efficiently rescue Escoffier within the early hours of Tuesday, amid sturdy winds and massive waves.
“One second once I was on deck I noticed a flash, however the truth is it was a mirrored image that glinted off a wave.
“However the extra I acquired nearer to the sunshine I noticed it an increasing number of. It’s wonderful since you swap from despair to an unreal second straight away.”
Le Cam himself was rescued on this race in 2009 after spending 16 hours in his upturned yacht and Escoffier mentioned he was not scared as quickly as he noticed his rival within the distance.
“As quickly as I had seen Jean I used to be certain I might be saved,” he mentioned.
‘A miracle’
Organizers had escalated the operation by sending an extra three rivals to assist with the rescue however all these dispatched are free to return to the race and the misplaced hours will probably be deducted from their last time.
“It was not simple to select Kevin up in the midst of the night time, Jean is an especially skilled sailor and he all the time adopted our directions to the letter.
“We had a lot of unknowns, a lot of completely different positions. We needed to be optimistic on a regular basis and imagine in issues. We had been fortunate, luck was on our facet.”
Dubbed the “Everest of the seas,” the Vendee Globe began from Les Sables d’Olonne on the November 8.
[ad_2]
