Veolia on a cargo ship

Roland Jourdain's IMOCA Open 60 heading back to France

Roland Jourdain's IMOCA 60 Veolia Environnement was been loaded onto a cargo ship yesterday, 15 days after her arrival into Ponta Delgada on the Azores island of Sao Miguel. She is due back into Lorient, France on 23 February.

The day after Michel Desjoyeux arrived into Les Sables d’Olonne, Jourdain announced his decision to end his Vendée Globe in the Azores after racing without a keel for 700 miles. There was too much risk involved in completing the last 1,000 miles of the race with the strong weather forecast, weather that Armel Le Cleac’h described a few days later as " the worst conditions he’d experienced since the beginning of the Vendée Globe".

Moored up in the commercial port of Ponta Delgada since 2 February, Veolia Environnement was being looked after by Nicolas de Castro and Louis Guervos, the two members of the shore team who had been in place in anticipation of Bilou’s decision.

They were also joined by Ryan Breymaier and Thomas Lebee from the Kaïros team who got to work on removing the mast and getting the boat onboard the cargo ship on Sunday night. They were also helped by the Ponta Delgada Nautical Centre to get it onto BBC Sweden’s cargo ship.

Veolia Environnement should disembark in Lorient in one week’s time on 23 February, before being trucked back to Concarneau.