Route du Rhum: Violette Dorange in tears after a collision with Romain Pilliard

When setting off from Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine) towards Guadeloupe, as part of the Route du Rhum, Violette Dorange was all smiles, Sunday November 1st. Very quickly, she became disillusioned. After only two hours of racing, his monohull collided with a competitor, Romain Pilliard. In the evening, morale is at its lowest. “I'm so sad, I don't understand how it's possible. I don't know what happened, I was at 28 knots and then suddenly everything stopped. And then I heard everything cracking in every direction, both his boat and mine,” confides the skipper Initiatives Cœur.

On the other boat, the damage is clearly visible. Romain Pilliard is also shot. “She rubbed against my hull and tore part of the upper deck off my hull. She didn’t see me,” says the Use It Again skipper. During the night, the two skippers reached Roscoff (Finistère) to assess the damage, in particular a leak in the front of the sailor's boat which should return to its home port.

32 days to arrive in Guadeloupe

“We are going to think about the best way to be able to return to Lorient to be able to have the means to repair as best as possible. And so we do not yet know exactly when we will be able to leave,” explains Violette Dorange. All competitors have 32 days to arrive in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, until December 3.

In just 24 hours of racing, five boats suffered damage. For the moment, in the Ultimate category Tom Laperche is ahead. “As long as it lasts, we are in the lead,” he rejoices. The fastest should see Guadeloupe in less than a week.