Ultim Challenge: Le Cléac'h heads to Brazil for a stopover

The navigator Armel Le Cléac'h, launched a week ago in the first solo round-the-world race between trimarans, aboard the Maxi Banque Populaire XI, headed to Récife (Brazil) on Sunday to repair his sailboat, said -we learned from his team. Pointing to 4th position in the Ultim Challenge at 6 p.m. Sunday (5 p.m. GMT), 463 nautical miles (857 km) from leader SVR Lazartigue, the “Banque Pop” is heading towards the Brazilian port to repair the balcony located at the 'front of the central hull' of the ship as well as gennaker armor.

“It was unthinkable to attack the South Seas without this important element of safety for maneuvers at the front of the boat,” said Ronan Lucas, director of the Banque Populaire team, on Sunday. The boat which, after a week of racing had just crossed the equator and was off the coast of Brazil, is expected in Recife between the night of Sunday and Monday by part of the technical team.

This is the first technical stopover for one of the six sailboats entered in this round-the-world race between multihulls, which left Brest on Sunday January 7. To increase the chances of seeing several ships cross the finish line in around forty days and ensure the safety of sailors, the competition organizers have authorized technical stopovers. But, according to the regulations, they must last at least 24 hours so that the teams only use them in cases of extreme necessity during this 40,000 km journey around the globe.

“We are all a little disappointed by this mishap even though we had not experienced a single incident in the Transat Jacques Vabre. The road is long and the whole team will do its utmost to quickly get Armel and the Maxi Banque Populaire XI back into the race,” said Ronan Lucas. Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT), SVR Lazartigue led the fleet with around 50 nautical miles ahead of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, 2nd. The Sodebo Ultim 3 helmed by Thomas Coville completes the leading trio, just over 400 miles from the leader.