At 6:00 a.m. (French time) this Wednesday February 9, Romain Pilliard, the skipper of the Trimaran Use It Again! informed his shore team that his boat had run aground on the rocks south of Chile. With his team-mate, Alex Pella, they attempted the record for the round the world in reverse without assistance. They had left Lorient at the beginning of January. As the sailors requested assistance, their record attempt flew away. Luckily, they weren’t hurt.
“I am devastated”, Romain Pilliard, the skipper
“It was 1 a.m. local time when a loud noise woke me with a start. The boat stopped. I understood immediately,” explains Romain Pilliard, the skipper of the boat. “After more than a month at sea, fatigue has accumulated and Alex landed inside and fell asleep. It’s a real nightmare! I don’t really have the words. I’m devastated. I try to evacuate and focus on the urgency of the moment. But I find it hard to believe what happened to us. At that moment” says the sailor. “The trimaran is literally resting on the rocks, we’re stuck in a mouse hole with rocks all around us. It’s surreal to be there. To experience that”.
A Chilean Navy tug should arrive on site in the early afternoon to help them get back on their feet and assess the damage with the aim of then going to the nearest port.
– Use It Again!
The conquest of the round the world in reverse, is one of the toughest records in the world. A 122-day adventure at sea to break a record never achieved in multihulls and which has held since 2004. He is the navigator Jean-Luc Van den Heedethen solo on his monohull Adrien who had won.
The boat Use It Again! had been designed with innovative solutions to make it the least impact possible for the planet.
– Jean Marie Liot