rhumb punched
An extremely dramatic Route Du Rhum has now been underway for almost five days, with one sailor airlifted off his huge catamaran after health issues made it impossible to continue, one sailor breaking her rig, a few returning to port for repairs, and nailbiting action with massive splits between the two lead G-Class multihulls (Cammas holds his lead and is on pace for a record with Groupama 3) and the Open 60s (Jourdain holds a slim lead over his north-sitting group but Desjoyeux is hundreds of miles split and his gamble may yet pay). It’s great racing, but today, drama pushed the competition aside today as super-experienced French racer Sydney Gavignet saw his giant trimaran Oman Air Majan break apart under his feet. This is a near sister ship to Thomas Colville’s Sodebo that currently Gavignet was rescued by a freighter and is headed to Gibraltar with them, and he spoke to race organizers a few hours ago to explain what happened. You can listen to it in French here, or click on "play" below to here it in English direct from the horse’s mouth in an interview with RdR headquarters. Go to the thread for the latest news and discussion.
LIVE ON-THE-WATER ANARCHY ROUTE DU RHUM VIDEO SHOW ON SATURDAY
Now that we’re back in the land of fast food and high-speed internet, we’ll be broadcasting a live two-hour show this Saturday at 1200 Eastern Time/0900 Pacific that will include all the video that Clean and team shot from the docks, cities of St. Malo and Port La Foret, and from the water during the Route Du Rhum start last weekend. Clean promises the video is something that 99% of you have never seen – total mayhem and a view to just what makes the French scene tick so strongly. The show will also include a full 18-minute interview with Open 60 leader Roland Jourdain (much of the OTW video was shot from a Veolia Environnement support boat) as well as a long talk with America’s newest hope of getting in the Open 60 game: Charismatic Annapolis native and Neutrogena co-skipper Ryan Breymaier, who sets off for the Barcelona World Race in just 6 weeks with Boris Herrmann. Check it out at OTWA live channel here, or look for the player on this front page starting on Saturday morning.
