Narrow escape

Man overboard rescued in the Figaro class' Cap Istanbul race

At around 2000 on Friday night, the Race Management of the figaro Cap Istanbul race was alerted by Matthieu Girolet, skipper of Entreprendre Lafont Presse, that there didn’t seem to be any sign of life aboard the boat SIRMA. Christian Gout and his team immediately tried to contact SIMRA skipper Christophe Bouvet, but to no avail… A rescue party was rapidly put together and the closest competitors were diverted. Little by little the whole fleet began searching for Bouvet . Thankfully the searching paid off as Christophe Bouvet was discovered in the water by fellow competitor Paul Meilhat.

“Race Management from Entreprendre Laffont Presse”, the voice of Mathieu Girolet had real note of concern in it. At the time the fleet was hurtling downwind under spinnaker, when they were suddenly hit by a squall gusting to over 45 knots. Girolet had just passed SIRMA, which was all over the place and most alarmingly with no sign of life on board.

Immediately Race Director Christian Goût attempt tried to contact Christophe, without response… Even though nobody wanted to say it, there wasn’t a second to lose. The closest boats were immediately diverted towards SIRMA's position - Jeanne Grégoire, Gildas Mahé, Mathieu Girolet, Paul Meilhat all joined in the search. The emergency services were alerted and the Cagliari coastguards began to set a search and rescue plan in motion.

Aware of the seriousness of the situation, the racers spontaneously decided, one after another, to retire from the race and head under motor towards SIRMA’s position as night was approaching .

The first boats on the scene began their search upwind of SIMRA’s position. The race management vessel then arrived on site and Philippe Chapel boarded the catamaran’s tender and climbed aboard SIMRA. There was nobody on board.

Gérald Véniard had the idea of restepping Sirma’s course using the track data from her computer With advice from Gildas Mahé who had remained close by, Chapel was then quickly able to give the estimated position of where Bouvet had fallen overboard which he relayed to the whole fleet via VHF.

The wait is interminable. In their new roles as rescuers the competitors crossed and recrossed the length and breadth of the search zone, turning on their lights in the ink black night.

At the request of race management, several distress flares were fired to light up the sky and indicate to Bouvet that there is a search underway. Despite their concern, the skippers remained calm. The minutes ticked by.

Finally two hours after the search had began Paul Meilhat, skipper of TS Régate Créteil Val de Marne, announced on the VHF that he had just picked up Christophe Bouvet. The SIMRA skipper was fine and completely lucid.



With this leg of the race was declared null and void, the competitors returned to Cagliari...

Christian Gout, recounts his side of what happened:

"At around 2000 hrs, we received a VHF call from the skipper Matthieu Girolet announcing that he had just passed the boat SIRMA which was broached in the water, spinnaker feathered with nobody on deck. At that point, there was a strong wind in a stormy squall. We immediately called the skipper of SIRMA, Christophe Bouvet, on the VHF.

"Without response from him there were two possibilities: either he was aboard incapable of answering our call, or he had fallen overboard. Aboard the Race Management boat, we immediately diverted our course despite the bad weather, in a bid to make towards the boat, whose position we had thanks to its Icom VHF.

"At the same time we asked three competitors, who were located within a 3 mile (6 km) radius of it, to do the same. At night in the breeze, they immediately acknowledged their presence and set about turning back, into the wind.

"We positioned ourselves upwind of the boat’s estimated position from the moment of the accident as a boat drifts quicker than a man in the water. We had to be fast as the survival time of a man overboard is short.

"Less than two hours later, Paul Meilhat, one of the diverted competitors, found Christophe who was floating despite his foul weather gear. Despite big seas he managed to pull him aboard prior to transferring him to an Italian Guardia launch which had joined in the search with us. It was fortunate that the accident occurred in the Mediterranean where the water is warm. In the Atlantic it would have been a different story. Everyone did their job, and reacted well without panicing. It was a good experience as Christophe is with us today. We’ll have to take lessons from this whilst it’s fresh in our minds. Christophe is in shock but in good health. He’s tough.



"This leg of the race has been rendered null and void. The 29 competitors in the Cap Istanbul are alongside in Cagliari. We have a briefing at 1300 hours today. According to the psychological state of the competitors and also the material because, in their urgency, some sails were ripped, we will make a decision about the new date of the departure for Marzamemi in due course".