Capsized trimaran Prince de Bretagne - skipper staying with boat
by Sail-world.com on 28 Jan 2014
Lionel Lemonchois aboard the Maxi80 aboard Prince de Bretagne earlier Marcel Mochet
800 nautical miles off the Brazilian coast abeam of Rio de Janeiro, French multihull sailor, Lionel Lemonchois, triggered his EPIRB yesterday after capsizing the Maxi 80 trimaran Prince de Bretagne while attempting to break the Mauriceienne record from Port-Louis in France to Port-Louis in Mauritius.
He was in his 11th day at sea trying to break the record of Francis Joyon, when the trimaran capsized in a SE breeze of 16-18kts.
After triggering the beacon in the middle of the afternoon, 800 miles off the Brazilian coast on Monday, Lemonchois had a brief Satellite phone call with his support team some hours later.
He advised them that his multihull capsized and he was safe inside the central hull after releasing the rig to relieve the boat.
Lemonchois, has a slightly injured hand, but plans to stay aboard his Maxi80 Prince de Bretagne to organize its recovery.
A French support team of four (Frédéric Le Peutrec, Patrice Richardot Gurloës Merrien and Quentin Monegier ) are flying to Rio de Janeiro. Meanwhile two others (Helfer and Guillaume Didier Le Vourc'h) already in South Americawill join them. In addition, two local coordinators are already hard preparing the necessary equipment. .
For now,Lemonchois is preparing for a long wait since the tug chartered by the team will not be in the zone for at least five days.
However he is safe in the central hull of his 80 foot trimaran with plenty of food and water.
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/118776
