Team Actual and the solo Westabout circumnavigation

It's great to see an Ultime trimaran having a crack at the solo Westabout circumnavigation record. It's been on Yves Le Blevec's agenda for a number of years and he had planned at one stage to use Ellen McCarthur's old trimaran (B&Q/Castorama) to make the attempt. In the interim they have acquired the former Sodebo and are using it instead. The team have left the routing open to either go through South East Asia or through the Southern Ocean I gather that the weather routing models will make that decision for them when the time comes (They have changed that now on the tracker but they certainly left the option open in the past).

You can find the tracker here: https://www.teamactual.eu/la-cartographie/

Currently team Actual are ahead of the previous monohull record holder by nearly 2000 nm.

 

Yves has just Macif / Francois Gabart on his East, going back !!!
Instagram post by Teamactual • Dec 6, 2017 at 1:37pm UTC https://www.instagram.com/p/BcXNpj6l32B/

 

Yves Le Blevec has rounded Cape Horn now, he had to wait a little for weather before doing so. The time thus far is 14 days 1 hour 34 minutes. He is 2600nm ahead of the previous record holder at this point.

 

Bad news, apparently one of the beams broke and the boat capsized. Yves Le Blevec is safe inside the boat though which is most important: https://www.teamactual.eu/actualites/flash-info-3/

 

Sorry to hear of the boat failure.
Hope Yves is picked up OK.
Designers and fabricators would love to get the boat back but its the Horn.

 

From the Actual web site :
"The skipper Actual had doubled the Horn at 1h 34min in the night from Wednesday to Thursday 14 December, in difficult weather conditions: 30 to 50 knots, bursts to 70 just before crossing the Cape, a sea of 5 to 6 meters.
At 4:21 am, this Thursday morning, Yves le Blevec triggered his first distress beacon. 40 minutes later, he operated his second beacon, confirming the seriousness of the situation. The CROSS immediately alerted the Chilean MRCC, the organization responsible for safety at sea for this area.
The technical team was able to join Yves: he is not injured, he is safe inside his boat while waiting for help. One of the trimaran's port aka broke, causing the Ultim to capsize. The west-northwest wind was 30 to 40 knots at the time of the capsizing, with waves 5m. The situation is stabilized, the boat is about thirty miles in the south-west of Cape Horn, it drifts a little to the south-east, a safe zone."

 

News from Actual web site :
"A passenger boat was rerouted this morning by the Chilean MRCC to come and rescue Yves le Blevec, still safe inside his boat. It should be on zone in the afternoon."

 

Ouf ...... !!! Yves le Blevec has been hoisted by helicopter by the Chilean coastguard.
https://www.teamactual.eu/actualites/flash-info-3/

No news presently about the boat save if any tentative.

 

Too bad-glad le Blevec is ok......

 

Photos and video thanks to Armada de Chile (Muchas gracias !!!) and Sailingscuttlebutt :
Record-seeker rescued off Cape Horn http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2017/12/14/record-seeker-rescued-off-cape-horn/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebutt%204981%20-%20December%2015%202017&utm_content=Scuttlebutt%204981%20-%20December%2015%202017+CID_d7aa07aacab1e266c2fe1fd9ffb44aec&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=Photos%20and%20video

 

From a debriefing yesterday with Yves Le Blevec and groupe Actual the boat owner :
"The skipper, rescued by the Chilean Navy off Cap Horn after capsizing on December 14, was in Mayenne today to tell the rescue to the employees of the group Actual, the owner of the ship"
"I was in a rough time, .... struggling against the wind and the waves, it was an expected situation. The boat was with minimum sails. When falling in the hollow of a wave, the aka broke, the boat folded and capsized, "says the skipper. "I do not have the impression of having screwed up. It is an abnormal break compared to the setting of the boat at this moment"
"The wreck of the trimaran is now drifting in the South Atlantic. A hostile region that makes its recovery perilous. One certainty, the tri will no longer sail. "It's a wreck, that we want to recover, but that we can not, today, go for .. For now, we have no solution," confirms Yves Le Blevec.
"It's a test, you have to get up and make that failure a positive one, and failure is the bedrock of success," said Samuel Tual, CEO of the company specializing in human resources and temporary work. . "Actual has passed its first Cape Horn, it leaves a taste of unfinished." The Ultim had in sight the great challenge of the solo tour around the world in 2019. "We are a member of the Ultim collective". Nothing is discarded. "Finding a boat is one of the options," says Samuel Tual. "A period of reflection will open in January, it will be in serenity."

Ref : Voile. L’Ultim Actual, devenu épave, ne naviguera plus https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/laval-53000/voile-l-ultim-actual-devenu-epave-ne-naviguera-plus-5463258

 

I saw the boat berthed at La Trinite a few months ago.Just a few feet from Sodebo as it happened and I found both boats fascinating.One of the features that caught my eye was the steering linkage,running behind the aft beam.You might find it worth a look too.