Sam Goodchild tears his mainsail in the Vendée Globe
by Agence TB Press 20 Jan 2025 06:59 PST
20 January 2025
Sam Goodchild tears his mainsail in the Vendée Globe © Sam Goodchild
Sam Goodchild, the British skipper of the yacht VULNERABLE, informed his technical team shortly before 1pm that his mainsail had torn. It literally exploded during an untimely gybe under autopilot, at the level of the third batten, across the entire width, from leech to luff, as the yacht battled winds of almost 30 knots.
Sam resumed his course, mainsail down, with the J2 and J3 in scissors.
He had been fighting tooth and nail since the latitude of Itajai in Brazil with Jérémie Beyou (Charal) for 4th place at the time of the incident. Certainly one of the great revelations of this Vendée Globe, Sam, showing since the start great skill, calm and limpid navigation, appeared at the head of the fleet many times at the beginning of the race. He will now throw his last forces to finish his first Vendée Globe, in the best possible place.
Sam Goodchild: "I was passing the low off the Azores, we were passing the strongest wind and sea when we suffered a double gybe under pilot, in a reef with the mainsail well shocked. The mainsail went into a tailspin, breaking battens and tearing into two pieces. The tear is quite high. I can't take a third reef, but a repair is possible. At the moment, we've got heavy seas and 30 knots of wind, which isn't ideal for a repair. I'm going to go as far east as I can and try to repair a little later.
"It's completely changing my Vendée Globe. I'm just trying to get my boat back to port. We're going to go all the way. If I can't fix it, I'll have to wait for the wind to be with me before I can make it back. It's disgusting. We didn't want this depression so close to the finish. But there it was. I gambled and I lost.
"It's a change of story and I'm not giving up. I'm going to think about it and try to get through it as best I can."
Sam Goodchild was at mid-day, on this 72nd day of racing, in fifth position, 24 miles from Charal and 1200 miles from the finish.
Find out more...