Vendée Globe: Defending champion Bestaven announces his withdrawal
Yannick Bestaven has has been joined by his technical team in Argentina.
After announcing a major breakdown to the steering system of the IMOCA Maître CoQ V’s on Friday, 27 December, damage which was impossible to repair at sea, Yannick Bestaven, in consultation with his technical team, has stopped in Ushuaïa to repair various damage his vessel suffered last week.
As this work cannot be carried out alone, French sailor Bestaven — the defending champion of the single-handed, non-stop, round-the-world yacht race — has now been joined by part of his technical team in Argentina. This intervention means the withdrawal of Bestaven and Maître CoQ V from the ongoing 10th edition of the Vendée Globe race, which is conducted unassisted.
The news comes two weeks after a ‘devastated’ Pip Hare abandoned her Vendée Globe race when her mast broke into two pieces.
While sailing in around thirty knots, in rough seas (5 metres of waves), towards Cape Horn, Bestaven contacted his technical team on land on Friday December 27 at 9 p.m. UT to warn them of a major breakdown to the steering system for the Maître CoQ V monohull.
The sailboat had become unmaneuverable, but the skipper, an engineer, managed to set up a temporary solution, using ropes to steer his boat towards Cape Horn while the vessel was in a degraded mode. Bestaven went on to round the third Cape of the course on Sunday 29 December.
Initially, Bestaven, who turned 52 last week, faced the loss of his Code 0 on Tuesday, 24 December, damaging his starboard foil when recovering his sail from the water. A few days later it was his FR0 (one of the headsails) that suffered further damage while Maître CoQ broached in a squall, Bestaven also reported outer skin problems on the starboard aft quarter of the boat hull.
These technical problems, coupled with the damage to the steering system, made the IMOCA Maître CoQ V uncontrollable.
Bestaven’s technical and sporting director, Jean Marie Dauris, his boat captain Stan Delbarre, his rigging manager Yvan Joucla and his composites expert, Ludo Bosser, as well as the engineer Arnaud Chaigne in charge of the on-board electronics, took a flight on Monday, 30 December to join him and begin the reconditioning work.
Before the start of the 2020-21 race, Bestaven had announced that this Vendée Globe marked his last solo race. It’s understood Bestaven remains keen to sail his boat Maître CoQ V solo back to Les Sables d’Olonne, once it is reliable. His team say an adventure outside of the race will then begin.
Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) has led the race since 31 December but saw his margin trimmed by his pursuer Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), from 93 to 63 miles yesterday (1 January 2025).
Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence) completed her second solo passage of Cape Horn at 1419hrs yesterday afternoon in 12th position, the same position as she rounded in January 2021. She was followed 1hr and 19 minutes later by Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnment).
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