Elies to be evacuated

Generali skipper breaks thigh bone

This morning, while manoeuvring on the bow of his boat, Yann Elies, skipper of Generali, fractured his thigh-bone. While waiting to be evacuated from the boat, Marc Guillemot, skipper of Safran, has changed course at the request of the race committee to reach Yann Elies for psychological support. Safran is only one hundred miles away from Generali.

While Eliès was changing sails aboard Generali, a huge wave came crashing through and stopped the boat, throwing him over and causing him to land roughly on the deck. He felt a sharp pain, and immediately crawled inside his boat, at which time he called the CROSS [the French emergency services], his team and the Race Director.

According to the initial diagnostic from race doctor Jean-Yves Chauve, Yann has broken his thigh-bone. Generali is currently 800 miles aways from Southern Australia in the Indian Ocean. Australian rescue teams have been alerted and are currently devising their best option to evacuate the skipper in a timely manner.