Damage forces Class40 retirement mid-Atlantic
Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, the Class40 RDT Logistic – Forvis Mazars has come to grief. Skippered by Renaud COURBON and Gilles COURBON, the yacht has officially withdrawn from the Transat Cafe LOR after sustaining damage at sea, and the pair are now diverting to Cascais, Portugal, to assess what went wrong.
The team confirmed the situation in a brief statement, making clear that a return to the race is not an option: "There's been damage on board. Renaud and Gilles are heading for Cascais. This diversion will not allow them to rejoin the race. The crew is fine. More information to come."
The retirement came just 24 hours after the crew had posted an update describing the realities of sailing close-hauled through persistent Atlantic headwinds, summing up life aboard in those conditions as "a sleeping boat, a moving boat, a tapping boat, a wet boat." That kind of relentless punishment grinds down both equipment and crew over time.
Gilles had written from on board, striking a cautiously optimistic note even as another front loomed: "The wind of fifteen knots last night did us good. We were able to sleep a little. But the next night, a new front arrives, so today we preserve ourselves because we know what's ahead."
{{gallery td_gallery_title_input="Damage from 8 days ago" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="157400,157399"}}
At that point, RDT Logistic – Forvis Mazars was carrying 30 knots of apparent wind and sitting 37th in the Class40 fleet, with 3,001 nautical miles still separating the crew from the Caribbean finish line.
[gallery td_gallery_title_input="The crew of RDT Logistic – Forvis Mazars: Renaud COURBON - Gilles COURBON" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="157404,157403"]
Both sailors are reported to be safe and in good spirits as RDT Logistic – Forvis Mazars makes its way toward port. The precise nature of the damage has not yet been disclosed, with the team indicating that further details will be released once the boat arrives in Cascais. For Renaud and Gilles, who had already endured fatigue and heavy weather since departing Le Havre, it is a bitter end to their Transat Jacques Vabre campaign, and on a transatlantic race as demanding as this one, the safety of the crew comes before the result.
