Safran has lost her keel

But skipper Marc Guillemot intends to continue to Les Sables d'Olonne

Marc Guillemot announced this morning that there was some serious damage to Safran's keel after he noticed that the top of the foil was loose in its box, with movement fore and aft and had dropped down a few centimetres. He had tied to hold the keel into the boat with rope lashings.

Early this afternoon, Guillemot said he had suddenly noticed that the ropes were slack. He no longer had a keel.

Since then he has filled all of Safran's ballast tanks - around 6 tonnes in total - in order to lower the centre of gravity and is sailing under small jib with three reefs in the mainsail and staysail making 9-11 knots.

Guillemot, reported on a call late this afternoon, he had been prepared for this eventuality and was almost relieved that the keel had gone since it was no longer threatening to damage his hull, and he at least now knows the magnitude of his problem.

Guillemot is now intending to continue on to Les Sables d’Olonne at reduced speed, albeit 976 miles away.

Like Roland Jourdain, Guillemot believes that his keel loss is a delayed consequence of a collision he had with a sea mammal on the evening of 17 December near the Kerguelen Islands. At the time his rudder kicked up and Safran broached violently. Guillemot later reported damage to his daggerboard which he changed two days later.

Guillemot, sounding tired and stressed this evening, says he is determined to complete this race whatever place he ends up in. He now has full windward ballast tanks and says he is taking it as easily as possible. Conditions are choppy but he has around 12-13 knots of wind. He has less than 980 miles to sail.

“It’s an old story," said Guillemot. "You may remember near the Kerguelens I collided with a large sea mammal and went from 20-22 knots to zero. I talked to the designers a few hours later as I thought it was strange that it was a bit loose. As I passed the Azores it must have moved to the next stage. After that it was much looser and yesterday it was much worse. Based on the advice I got from Guillaume Verdier I secured it in place during the night. I managed to raise it up. It was exposed to some huge forces with 40-50 knots of wind and high seas. I could hear the keel moving from one side to the other. At 2 or 3 in the morning I was fairly pleased with the job. I had it rigged up to the winch and the keel was practically blocked from moving forwards and backwards. I wanted to give it one more turn to raise it that bit further and it was odd… I looked in the keel box and could see it had gone down as I could see the sea. Strange as it may seem, I breathed a sigh of relief! Having that weight swinging around under the hull, you feel powerless to do anything. There is the risk of the boat being damaged. I prepared the ballast tanks and I’m back in control. I hope we don’t get any strong gales like last night.

“ It was extremely stressful. The noise and creaking were just horrendous. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced this and it was dreadful. I have the ballast full in the bow and am under small jib with three reefs in the mainsail. So I’m sailing 10-11 knots. The sea is still quite rough, but it has eased off and I can deal with the conditions. I don’t mean to say I could cross the Atlantic like that, but I haven’t any choice. If it gets worse I could head for Spain. I really want to finish in Les Sables d’Olonne. I’m more determined than ever. Samantha is quickly going to get ahead, but I just want to finish the race. I’m feeling exhausted as I worked all night and then again this morning. I’ve got another hour of work ahead of me tidying up the boat."

Safran is the fourth boat in this Vendee Globe to experience keel problems after Veolia Environnement where the keel snapped off at the hull exit, VM Materiaux which lost the keel bulb from the end of the foil and Temenos which had problems with her keel head.