The first incidents occur on the Route du rhum which started this Wednesday from Saint-Malo.
Armel Le Cléac'h, the skipper of Banque Populaire XI, heard a creaking at midday on Thursday without any apparent shock.
He noticed the broken daggerboard of the boat.
He is heading to Lorient where all the solutions will be studied with Team Banque Populaire for the rest of this Route du rhum.
The skipper was among the favorites and was hoping to break a record.
“Armel told us about this breakage which requires him to return to Lorient for us to analyze the situation.
Armel is safe, the road to reach our technical base will be in manageable conditions”, indicated Ronan Lucas, the director of Team Banque Populaire.