ON THE WIND
rench solo sailor Yves le Blevec
was rescued off Cape Horn after
his 101ft trimaran Actual Ultim
capsized in 30-40 knot conditions on
14 December.
Le Blevec had set off on a solo
non-stop westabout circumnavigation
attempt on 24 November in his Nigel
Irens-designed trimaran. The trimaran
was rounding Cape Horn and heading
west on its approach to the Pacific
when it capsized in the early hours of
the morning.
Le Blevec reported that one of the port
crossbeams broke as he headed into a
west-northwesterly headwind of 30-
knot with 5-6m seas, swiftly followed by
the trimaran capsizing and turning turtle.
Shortly before he capsized, Le Blevec
posted a photo on social media showing
Cape Horn in the background and icy
conditions on deck, which he captioned:
‘Cape Horn to starboard, 30 to 50 knots
of wind’.
Following the incident, Le Blevec was
able to climb onto the upturned hull
and await assistance. He was rescued
later the same day in a helicopter by the
Chilean coast guard. A passenger vessel
had also diverted course to assist if
called upon.
Le Blevec said afterwards: “As soon as
I felt that the situation was harsh for the
boat and skipper, I didn’t hesitate to slow
down and take my foot off the gas.
“There’s a 100-mile wide band where
the wind speeds up a lot; we knew weScientific research being conducted by the Volvo Ocean Race has found
that the level of microplastic pollution in European waters is far higher than
previously thought.
Data on pollution levels collected by Turn the Tide on Plastic (skippered by
Dee Caffari, left) showed there were over three million microplastic particles
per square kilometre of ocean. Microplastics are small, often invisible, particles
of plastic that take years to degrade and can harm marine life.
The initial results, gathered during the prologue stage and first
leg of the race between Lisbon and Alicante, were presented at a
summit held during the event’s Cape Town stopover in November.were going to cross it after Cape Horn for
5-6 hours. This wind band is quite strong
but quite predictable and I had already
adapted to this situation.
“There were troughs of 5m with a
strong sea. The boat jumped one wave,
it fell back with one good crack a bit
more violent than the others. As soon
as it started to accelerate I heard more
crunches and I felt it start to heel in an
abnormal way, then I knew there was
something more serious.”
The trimaran was abandoned and
left drifting back into the Atlantic, while
Le Blevec’s team considered salvage
options. Actual Ultim was formerly
Thomas Coville’s Sodebo, in which he
started two round the world record
attempts. It was relaunched for Le Blevec
in 2017 with a new, shorter rig.Solo record
attempt ends
in capsize off
Cape Horn
F
Le Blevec was
rescued by the
Chilean coast
guard after his
trimaran broke up
and capsized off
Cape HornVolvo team research discovers
high plastic pollution levels
The record Le Blevec was attempting
to break was set in 2004 by Jean Luc Van
Den Heede, who completed the round
the world in 122d 14h 3m 49s on an 85ft
monohull. At the time he capsized, Le
Blevec was over 2,600 miles ahead of
schedule to beat this.Pedro Martinez / Volvo Ocean Race16 February 2018