Eliès update

Australian Frigate dispatched to rescue Generali skipper

Since Generali skipper Yann Eliès called for assistance this morning, after fracturing the femur of his left leg during an accident on the foredeck, so more details have emerged about the incident and the resulting action that is taking place.

At a press conference in Paris earlier Erwan Steff, Logistics and Administration Manager of Team Generali fleshed out what had happened: “At about 1000 [French time] this morning Yann contacted me to say that he needed help, he was in a bad way. A sudden jolt when he was on the foredeck stopped the boat very suddenly, he was thrown to the deck, and he has broken his left leg. He crawled back inside the boat to be safe and there he called us, his team, to request immediate assistance."

Within minutes the race organisers had leapt into action. Obviously with effectively a broken leg, Eliès is not in a position to sail back to port and thus must somehow be rescued.

Having got the call at 0915 GMT this morning, so after assessing the situation and race doctor Jean Yves Chauve contacting Eliès to find out more about his injury, the Vendee Globe race office at 1020 GMT instructed Safran and Roxy to divert in order to stand-by Generali and her stricken skipper. Safran this morning was 95 miles to the south of Generali and would require skipper Marc Guillemot to gybe north and should reach Generali this evening, while Roxy is still someway behind and at 13 knots would rendez-vous with Generali in 42 hours (ie roughly 0300 on Saturday).

“The job of these two skippers is mostly psychological support, that is to say that Yann knows that two fellow skippers are close by, and if absolutely necessary, and I emphasise absolutely necessary, we can count on their assistance," explained Race Director, Denis Horeau.





PRB's Vincent Riou and Armel Le Cléac’h on BritAir also offered their assistance but this was turned down. They are downwind of Generali and in the big conditions, it might endanger their own boats having to turn back upwind thereby potentially worsening the incident.

Meanwhile in Australia, the Vendee Globe's safety consultant David Adams has contacted the local Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Canberra. The MRCC has duly instructed the Australian rescue services who have scrambled a navy
frigate, the 180m long HMAS Arunta, which is due to leave Perth at 2000 hours GMT. The Arunta has around 1,000 miles to cover in order to reach Generali, and although capable of making 30 knots is expected to take two days to reach her.

Denis Horeau continues: “We are waiting to know whether or not a helicopter is aboard the frigate. We don’t know at the moment. In the coming hours we shall more information on the exact departure time of the boat, and further information about its capabilities.

“For my part I should say that the Australians are capable of exceptional work, they are rescue experts, as several Vendée sailors can attest. At the moment Generali, Yann Eliès’ boat, is 800 miles from the coast of Australia, he is on port tack, and making very slow progress to the north."

On board Generali, Eliès has taken to his bunk and has been instructed to take morphine and make a splint in order to immobilise his leg.

According to Steff: "At the moment he is safe in his bunk, he is following the advice of the doctor and staying warm, eating and take painkillers. He has a sail configuration which allows him to stay like that, he has three reefs in the main and small staysail set. He is just waiting for the psychological support that Marc Guillemot’s arrival will give him. For our part we are in permanent contact to know how things are going, to keep his spirits up and so he knows that other sailors, his mates are on their way.

"He has not taken any medication yet, all that he has been able to do is crawl back inside the boat and get into his bunk in front of the nav station close to his iridium phone, but he has not been able to open his medical kit, but to even pick up the phone is an effort, and the boat’s movement is painful for him. The doctor’s advice is that he conserves his energy for the next 30 hours because he is in a lot of pain."

Obviously the rescue of Eliès has echoes of the 1996 Vendee Globe when Tony Bullimore and Thierry Dubois had to be picked up by the Australian navy from their upturned boats and of Isabelle Autissier's rescue after dismasting in the 1994 BOC Challenge. In Bullimore's case he spent five days inside the upturned hull of his Open 60 Exide Challenger before being rescued. Following these incidents races through this sea area, where the Australian MRCC holds jurisdiction, have been required to stay within 1000 miles of the Australian coast line - hence why there are three sets of gates south of Australia and New Zealand that the boats must venture north of.

Read more about Yann Eliès and Generali here