Route of the Rum. Josse: "The float hit the water and bent …" – Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe

Arrived Monday night in Corunna with his Gitana 17 deprived of the bow of the starboard float, Sébastien Josse came back on this damage.

– We imagine that it is necessarily a huge disappointment?

Yes, of course. After the damage, the first concern was not to end up worse in the middle of the second depression, so getting to the port in A Coruña and securing the boat is already a good thing.

– What were the conditions at the time of the incident?

This happened after the pbadage of the front, in 28-31 knots of wind, I was reaching at 105 ° of wind, under mainsail at a reef with the boat was rather airy, without stopping buffet, with a very regular speed. And then when the float hit the water, it bent and it stopped the boat immediately.

– Was the shock brutal?

No no, I did not hear a big crack, it was a ditching like another except it was more violent and I found myself thrown forward in the boat. Usually, when we land, there is no movement so severe, it slows down but it starts again immediately. There, I felt that the deceleration was clear, I understood that behind, there was something that prevented the boat from restarting.

– Where were you in the boat?

At these speeds, we are under the cap, we regulate, ready to intervene in case but then, it was so sudden that I had time not to shock anything. But it would not have served much purpose!

– Was there a lot of sea?

There was 3.5 meters of swell. With the routing cell, we wondered how we could navigate in there. The reaching is never very easy but with these flying boats, it pbaded over the sea. It was rather comfortable. It was not at all survival, it was controlled and safe.

– Were you scared ?

No, I did not have time to be afraid. Afterwards, I went around the boat to check that it was not going to deteriorate anymore. To think that it is a haemorrhage that we can control and that it will not get worse. I cut the canvas right away.

– What's left of the bow?

The bow is part of a single piece, it is cut net. After, it remains 2-3 meters in front of the arm but they are bits of carbon.

– Are you sure you have not touched anything in the water?

In my opinion yes. After that, we are never sure of anything. I think I did not type anything, but when you touch the water at almost 80 km /, the water becomes a solid surface so it is difficult to differentiate the noise from the water or the impact of the water. water, difficult to know if it's the sound of something solid that we hit.

– How do you see the rest of the operations?

We'll see how we do to bring the boat back to Brittany. It is not navigable in the state so it will have to find solutions.