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06.11.2010 Back to news
Kito de Pavant abandons the Route du Rhum and reroutes to the Azores
 | © GMR |
At 00:30, Kito officially informed the race organizers that he was abandoning the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale. The aim now is to bring the yacht back to Port Camargue as quickly as possible to prepare her for the start of the two-handed round the world Barcelona World Race leaving Barcelona on 31 December.
The skipper is OK and that's the main thing, but the disappointment is huge for the man who had dreamt so long of competing in the Route du Rhum. In testing conditions for the whole fleet since the start of the race in St. Malo last Sunday, Groupe Bel was in the centre of an exciting battle being played out by the seven 60 foot monohulls leading the race. Since passing the front on the night of Thursday to Friday, Groupe Bel was charging downwind, and, together with Vincent Riou, was the fastest Imoca in the ranking at 20:00 yesterday, at a speed of 19.1 knots.
The whole Groupe Bel team, their many supporters, and his team, friends and family are supporting him through this difficult time. The technical team is currently organizing to meet the skipper and his boat in the Azores, which he should reach on Saturday night.
Radio contact during the night with Kito on board Group Bel:
“What I heard sounded like an explosion in the boat. I looked on deck but couldn't see anything. The boat immediately started to heel over sharply. I went to see the keel and saw that it was being banged about without anything holding it. On our swing keel yachts, we have a shaft under the boat and a second one above which acts as a lever arm on which there is a steel pin. This is what had broken. We quickly made the decision to stop the Route du Rhum here. So I am turning round to return to the Azores. We cannot continue the race like this. The boat is safe right now. Luckily, the broken pin is still there, but the backup system is pressing on it, so we must really take it easy.
I am heading towards the Azores, Horta or Sao Miguel. I still haven’t made up my mind yet. It will depend greatly on the arrival of the technical team. The conditions are not very good for sailing there. I find myself close hauled in a rough sea at a windspeed of 30 knots. I am under mainsail only with two reefs. Within 24 hours things should improve, which will allow me to drive the yacht a little harder and to go to meet my team.
Sailing in this Route du Rhum was really important to me. Naturally, it’s hard to take. Particularly, since we were doing well. I had ambitions in this race. I was enjoying a match with the seven other boats in the lead. It would have been a good battle to the end. However, the story goes on. We must now look forward. It is a fine project which will lead me to the Barcelona World Race. We will get back to work and repair the technical problems that arose on the keel. We shall not let this get us down.
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