In tears, Tom Laperche spoke after his incident aboard his maxi-trimaran SVR-Lazartigue during the Arkéa Ultim Challenge, the solo round-the-world sailing trip, which occurred during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Even though the skipper is safe, he did not hide his distress in a voice note addressed to several journalists.
“I screamed like rarely in my life, I was so disgusted that it happened like that… In a fraction of a second, everything collapsed,” said the 26-year-old Frenchman, on the verge of tears.
While sailing in second position, Laperche’s boat suffered “major damage”. “I lay down for a little nap, and a few minutes later, I felt a huge shock,” he says. I moved forward a meter, and I saw a lot of water coming in. All the alarms sounded, it was difficult to know what had been achieved. »
The first images of the shock suffered by the trimaran @SVRLazartigue. Tom Laperche is doing well and is heading to Cape Town in South Africa where his team will welcome him upon his arrival ???? pic.twitter.com/yigo0DqYT6
— ARKEA ULTIM CHALLENGE – Brest (@ARKEAULTIMCHALL) January 19, 2024
When he arrived on deck, the Frenchman realized that his centreboard was malfunctioning. “The boat was going well until then, it was enjoying itself, and suddenly… That we are here after ten days of being at the head of the fleet on a round-the-world trip is really hard. I have never experienced anything so hard,” he says.
“We’re not a few hours away”
The Frenchman is therefore forced to make a technical stopover in Cape Town (South Africa), 1,200 miles from his current position. “Not necessarily as quickly as possible, we are not within a few hours,” he concedes, disappointed. “I have the bottom of the hull open, not far under my feet, I can see the blue water through the boat,” he says. You have to do these 3-4 days at sea (until Cape Town) slowly, without it getting any worse. »
Laperche will lose a lot of time in this technical stopover and will no longer be able to play for the win, even though he has already been overtaken by Thomas Coville, now second. And especially since, like Armel Le Cléac’h in Recife (Brazil), he will have to stay at least 24 hours at the dock, as required by the regulations.
