Jury award for Vendée Globe rescue

(December 16, 2020) – The International Jury for the Vendée Globe published their decisions for time compensations awarded to three of the four skippers who were involved in the rescue operation for Kevin Escoffier during the period late afternoon and overnight Monday, November 30.

When the PRB skipper had to abandon his boat some 850 miles SW of Cape Town, Race Direction asked four competitors to change their course and put their race on hold to assist Escoffier. The four skippers subsequently requested redress.

Sébastien Simon (ARKEA PAPREC), who was involved but later forced to retire due to damage to his boat, waived his claim for redress. The three other skippers are Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ), Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam!), and Boris Herrmann (SeaExplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco).

It was Le Cam that ultimately rescued Escoffier, bringing him onboard from his liferaft on December 1 at approximately 0118hrs UTC. The two skippers continued on the race until Escoffier was transferred to a ship on December 6.

The international jury of the Vendée Globe 2020, chaired by Georges Priol (FRA), after investigation, established that the progress of these three solo sailors “was significantly altered through no fault of (their) own, to go and give help to FR85 in accordance with RRS 1.1. The conditions for giving redress are met (RRS 62.1 (C).”

The jury award has been expressed as a time compensation which will be credited to the three skippers once the finish line is crossed. Decisions are final with no appeal.

Decisions:
• Boris Herrmann (SeaExplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco): “The majority international jury gives redress to MON10 as follows: the finish time of MON10 will be the time at which it finishes minus 6 hours”.

• Yannick Bestaven (Maître-CoQ): “The majority international Jury gives redress to FRA 17 as follows: the finish time of FRA17 will be the time at which he finishes minus 10hrs 15mins”.

• Jean le Cam (Yes We Cam!): “The majority international Jury gives redress to FRA01 as follows: FRA01’s finish time will be the time at which he finishes minus 16hrs 15mins”.

The Race Direction which managed the rescue operations, also took note of the redress request made by the skippers. It reports to the President of the Jury and to the Vendée Globe race committee. The jury takes its decision by a majority decision of its members. It is up to the race committee to apply them when the skippers cross the finish line.

Jury Members:
Georges PRIOL IJ FRA President
Lance Burger IJ RSA
Romain Gautier IJ FRA
Trevor Lewis IJ GBR
Ana Sanchez IJ ESP

Race details – Boat types – Tracker – Ranking – YouTube

The Vendée Globe is the only sailing race round the world that’s solo, non-stop, and without assistance, and it was all systems go for the 9th edition on November 8. Beginning in 1989 with 13 entries, the start line in 2020 had 33 skippers taking off from Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

The development of the IMOCA Class toward foiling will see these boats hurl themselves around the world, teetering on carbon skates through inhospitable regions, chasing the record set in 2016-17 by Armel le Cléac’h of 74:03:35:46.

2020-21 Attrition
Nov. 16, 2020 – Nicolas TROUSSEL, CORUM L’EPARGNE – dismasted
Nov. 28, 2020 – Alex THOMSON, HUGO BOSS – rudder damage
Nov. 30, 2020 – Kevin ESCOFFIER, PRB – hull damage (sunk)
Dec. 4, 2020 – Sébastien SIMON, ARKEA PAPREC – foil damage
Dec. 5, 2020 – Sam DAVIES, Initiatives-Cœur – keel damage (collision)
Dec. 11, 2020 – Fabrice AMEDEO, NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES – computer failure

Participation history:
1989-90: 13 boats at the start
1992-93: 15 boats
1996-97: 15 boats
2000-01: 24 boats
2004-05: 20 boats
2008-2009: 30 boats
2012-2013: 20 boats
2016-2017: 29 boats
2020-2021: 33 boats

2020-21 Entries
Fabrice AMEDEO: NEWREST – ART & FENÊTRES
Romain ATTANASIO: PURE – BEST WESTERN
Alexia BARRIER: TSE – 4MYPLANET
Yannick BESTAVEN: MAÎTRE COQ IV
Jérémie BEYOU: CHARAL
Arnaud BOISSIÈRES: LA MIE CÂLINE – ARTISANS ARTIPÔLE
Louis BURTON: BUREAU VALLÉE 2
Didac COSTA: ONE PLANET ONE OCEAN
Manuel COUSIN: GROUPE SÉTIN
Clarisse CREMER: BANQUE POPULAIRE X
Charlie DALIN: APIVIA
Samantha DAVIES: INITIATIVES-CŒUR
Sébastien DESTREMAU: MERCI
Benjamin DUTREUX: OMIA – WATER FAMILY
Kevin ESCOFFIER: PRB
Clément GIRAUD: COMPAGNIE DU LIT / JILITI
Pip HARE: MEDALLIA
Boris HERRMANN: SEA EXPLORER – YACHT CLUB DE MONACO
Ari HUUSELA: STARK
Isabelle JOSCHKE: MACSF
Jean LE CAM: YES WE CAM !
Stéphane LE DIRAISON: TIME FOR OCEANS
Miranda MERRON: CAMPAGNE DE FRANCE
Giancarlo PEDOTE: PRYSMIAN GROUP
Alan ROURA: LA FABRIQUE
Thomas RUYANT: LINKEDOUT
Damien SEGUIN: GROUPE APICIL
Kojiro SHIRAISHI: DMG MORI
Sébastien SIMON: ARKEA – PAPREC
Maxime SOREL: V AND B – MAYENNE
Alex THOMSON: HUGO BOSS
Armel TRIPON: L’OCCITANE EN PROVENCE
Nicolas TROUSSEL: CORUM L’ÉPARGNE

Source: Vendée Globe