‘I am sinking. This is not a joke. MAYDAY'

KEVIN ESCOFFIER’S RESCUE FROM A LIFERAFT ADRIFT IN THE ROARING FORTIES WAS THE RESULT OF INCREDIBLE SEAMANSHIP. HELEN FRETTER SPOKE TO HIM, AND THE TEAM THAT CO-ORDINATED THE SEARCH

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At 1345 (UTC) on Monday 30 November, on a grey and lumpy South Atlantic some 840 miles south-west of Cape Town, Kevin Escoffier was 3rd in the singlehanded Vendée Globe when his boat, the IMOCA 60 PRB, suddenly and catastrophically broke up. Escoffier had time only to send a three line Whatsapp message to his shore team before all communication with the boat was lost. It would be 11 hours before anyone on land heard from him again.

Before he had any indication anything was wrong, Escoffier was racing fast in 22-25 knot south-westerlies. He was around 20 miles behind 2nd placed LinkedOut, with Jean Le Cam in 4th around 25 miles behind.

While some skippers had been plagued by gear damage, PRB was in good shape. The only problem Escoffier had had to deal with was a valve failure in a foil well a couple of weeks previously, which he joked had turned his boat into ‘jacuzzi mode’ as water sloshed around inside. Escoffier fixed the valve and raced on, moving up to 3rd as he approached the Cape of Good Hope.

On the afternoon of 30 November,