Foil damage at the front of Vendée Globe

(December 8, 2024; Day 29) – At 17:00 UTC yesterday in the Vendée Globe, second place skipper Sébastien Simon (FRA) alerted his team that his starboard foil had just broken on his IMOCA Groupe Dubreuil while in the southern Indian Ocean.

“I was sleeping when the boat suddenly broached,” he explained. “I went into the cockpit to ease the sheets. I quickly sensed from the feel that something was wrong, the boat was no longer responding in the same way. I quickly understood what it was. I went to check on deck and the foil was broken at the elbow, the most curved part of the foil.”

He did not hear any significant noise, possibly because he had his earplugs which is very normal among skippers to limit the constant debilitating noise and facilitate sleep.

“It’s all the more frustrating as I’ve been eased back for several days because of the sea conditions,” he shared. “I was trying to preserve the equipment as much as possible while keeping in mind my goal of getting to the finish the Vendée Globe.”

After days of supersonic speeds (including the record for the greatest distance covered in 24 hours solo in a monohull: 615.33 miles covered between November 26 and 27), Simon had benefited from a brilliant strategy but now he will inevitably slow up, losing power on port gybe.

“It’s really very hard to take,” he admitted. “On port tack I’m going to lose around 30% of speed, which is significant, but my starboard foil is good and we’ve already done a good proportion of this round the world race on port tack.

“I’m going to go all the way. I’m managing to contain the lead I have over the rest of the fleet for the moment and I’m sure that the round the world race still has some great surprises in store for us. That’s part of the game, it’s a mechanical sport. Now it’s about staying focused and having fun.”

Simon had to retire into Cape Town from the 2020-21 race after suffering damage to his starboard foil but much more seriously his foil casing.

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Attrition:
Nov. 15: Maxime Sorel (FRA), V and B – Monbana – Mayenne – ankle injury, mast damage
Dec. 4: Louis Burton (FRA), Bureau Vallée – rigging failure

The Vendée Globe, raced in the 60-foot IMOCA, is the elite race round the world, solo, non-stop, and without assistance. On November 10, 40 skippers started the 2024-25 edition which begins and ends in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

Armel Le Cléac’h, winning in 2017, holds the record for the 24,300 nm course of 74 days 03 hours 35 minutes 46 seconds. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel Desjoyeaux in 2001 and 2009. This is tenth running of the race.

Source: VG2024, SSN