The French skipper Kevin Escoffier (PRB), mounted on his liferaft after a major water leak on his boat, was recovered safe and sound by his compatriot Jean Le Cam (Yes we Cam!), Announced on Tuesday the organization of the Vendée Globe.
“A huge relief!
Kevin is well aboard Hubert safe and sound, ”tweeted Jean Le Cam, who can be seen in front of his French compatriot in a screenshot published on the organizer's website, on the border with the Indian Ocean , 600 miles southwest of the Cape of Good Hope.
A huge relief!
Kevin is well on board Hubert safe and sound.
To read the story ⤵️ https://t.co/xWiNkLBihy
- Jean Le Cam (@JeanLecam) December 1, 2020
"I have no words ... the end of the nightmare and long hours of anguish", also reacted Sabrina Millien, the partner of Kevin Escoffier, thanking Jean Le Cam.
🙏🙏
I have no words ... the end of the nightmare and long hours of anguish
I had it on the phone.
He is fine.
Thank you is not even strong enough to thank @JeanLecam @borisherrmann @YannickBestaven and @SebastienSimon_ who went to get it 🙏🙏 https://t.co/bLAAGQHX8o
- Sabrina Millien (@SabMln) December 1, 2020
“It was at 2:18 am French time (1:18 GMT) that the PRB team was informed of the rescue.
The PRB skipper appeared smiling, bundled up in his survival suit alongside Jean Le Cam, ”the organizer tweeted.
A few hours later, by video, the two men returned to the terrible hours.
“Have you ever watched shipwreck movies, asks Kevin Escoffier?
Well, it was the same and worse.
In 4 seconds, the boat crashed, I put my head in the cockpit, there was a wave.
I had time to send a text
(Editor's note: to his team on land to explain that the boat was taking on water)
, the wave blew up the electronics.
The boat folded in half, I had never seen that.
“Tears rise when he faces Jean-Jacques Laurent, the director of PRB, sponsor of Escoffier.
“I'm sorry for the Jean-Jacques boat,” cries the sailor.
"It's only material," replied the boss, who minute by minute will have followed the rescue of his sailor from the race HQ in Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée).
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Third in the race, Escoffier had triggered his distress beacon on Monday at 2:46 p.m., while he was sailing in the 40th Roaring, an area known for its breaking waves and strong winds.
[FLASH INFO] @JeanLecam recovers @KevinEscoffier safe and sound!
It was at 2:18 am French time that the PRB team was informed of the rescue.
The PRB skipper appeared smiling, bundled up in his survival suit alongside Jean Le Cam.
➡️ https://t.co/FuT2CB3iYn pic.twitter.com/vTFVsxX0fZ
- Vendée Globe (@VendeeGlobe) December 1, 2020
"Everything has been done to find the Malouin tossed around in his life raft on the border with the Indian Ocean, 600 miles southwest of the Cape of Good Hope", welcomed the organizer on his site, which closely monitored the ultimately successful rescue attempt for several hours.
"I went from despair to something crazy"
While Jean Le Cam "was progressing at 1.5 knots in a wind of 20-25 knots under very reduced sails (3 reefs in the mainsail and without engine), he disappeared from the screen and we heard him. talk.
We couldn't see anyone anymore, ”recounts Jacques Caraës, the race director, on the site.
“Then, a few minutes after 1:06 UT, or 2:06 French time (time at which he must have precisely retrieved Kevin on board), Jean went back down to the chart table, then we saw Kevin arrive behind his back in a survival suit .
They appeared seconds, both fit before the video cut.
He is fine.
Everyone is well.
They are recovering!
", he added.
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Four skippers left on Monday in search of Escoffier.
The Cam had been the first to have reached the emission zone of the Escoffier distress beacon, at 5:00 p.m. French time, ie 2 hours after the alert.
Jean Le Cam then tried a first approach.
"With the sea there was, it was not easy to maneuver"
“I see Kevin on his boat, the position was perfect, I tell him
I
'm coming
back, we're not going to do anything
.
With the sea there, it was not easy to maneuver.
Moments later, the senior of the race loses eye contact.
“I came back 5-6 times, each time with tackings and the vagaries of the sea. I then said to myself that I was going to stay on stand-by while waiting for daybreak.
"
Jean Le Cam does not move, but continues to scrutinize the sea. “I was since on the bridge and I see a flash, a light in a wave, an apparition.
I told myself
this is not true
!
I then go from despair to something crazy.
I see Kevin, I swing the buoy at him, he hooked up the transmission bar, it was won!
"
The two men are writing a new page in the history of the incredible rescues carried out during this solo round-the-world race.
In 2009, it was Jean Le Cam who had to be rescued, when his monohull capsized not far from Cape Horn.
In difficult conditions, it was then Vincent Riou - Kevin Escoffier's predecessor at PRB - who had come to his aid… before dismasting.
Other images of rescue remained in the memories, those of Raphaël Dinelli, in 1996. Hypothermic, hungry and thirsty in his survival boat after capsizing his boat on Christmas Day, the sailor had been recovered, in the heart of a Indian Ocean unleashed by Pete Goss, who after ten days of a strange cohabitation had dropped him off south of Hobart.
.
