Route du Rhum: impressive images of rescues

He is standing, leaning against the hull of his maxi-trimaran. When Armel Le Cléac'h saw the crew of this Panamanian freighter, he had just spent more than ten hours, almost motionless, in the middle of the Atlantic. The enormous container ship is preparing to welcome the sailor. The latter leaves behind his boat with its 35 meter mast towards the bottom and above all leaves behind his ambitions and years of work.

Thirteen abandonments out of 115 boats

"They are inevitably disappointed, the race stops, they remain competitors. With a snap of their fingers, the race stops. For them, these are overwhelming moments. Indeed, they are walking in reverse from their boat with, one can imagine, a lot of fallen equipment. That's not at all natural. Afterwards, they organize themselves as best they can," explains Pierre Hays, deputy director of the Route du Rhum.

Francis Joyon, too, returns to land aboard a cargo ship. The group souvenir photo is not what this solitary sailor had imagined. In the Celtic Sea, a flare and a more delicate rescue in the middle of the night. He waited 8 hours inside his overturned boat. The septuagenarian, like other experienced sailors, is prepared for such situations. Thirteen abandonments out of 115 boats, nothing exceptional. These days, the depression in the Azores has taken a toll on the skippers still in the race. For many, the road is still long, far behind the leader, Tom Laperche.