Desjoyeaux retires

Foncia suffers a collision with a whale in the Artemis Transat

Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper of the IMOCA Open 60 Foncia has been forced to retire from the Artmeis Transat after his yacht collided with a whale.

The incident occurred at 15:24GMT today. Foncia hit the whale with her bow and starboard daggerboard. Desjoyeaux is unsure of the integrity of the starboard daggerboard case. He himself was not injured. The boat is still sailing and is not at risk. However in order not to compromise the boat further Desjoyeaux in agreement with his sponsor Foncia have chosen to abandon the race and make a U-turn back to France.

Over satellite phone, Desjoyeaux fleshed out what happened: "About two hours ago, I was upwind doing 10 to 11 knots, I was in the boat and I heard a crack. I felt the starboard daggerboard hit something - it's probably broken. I can't get it up more than 1.5m. I hope there won't be a big leak. I don't see any interest in pursuing the race with a boat which is not competitive any more, so it makes more sense to head home to Brittany, which should take me about four days. It's a big disappointment, because it has been a very interesting race. It's the first time I have to retire from an offshore race, that's how bad it is"

Foncia is approximately 1000 miles away from Brittany.