Thursday, December 18, 2008

Stop the press: Vendée Globe: Yann Eliès severely injured

[Source: Vendée Globe] This morning (Thursday), as he was carrying out manoeuvres on the bow, Yann Eliès fractured his thighbone. While he waits to be taken off his boat, following a request from the race directors, Marc Guillemot has changed course in order to offer him some moral assistance. Safran was only a hundred miles from Generali at the time.

This morning (Thursday 18th December) at 10h precisely, Yann Eliès, taking part in the sixth Vendée Globe, was carrying out manoeuvres on the bow. Resting on the pulpit, as he was preparing a sail, his 60-foot boat, Generali, came to a brutal standstill slamming into a wave. The sailor felt a sudden acute pain. He collapsed on the foredeck and had to crawl back inside his boat to contact his team. According to the initial diagnosis from Dr. Jean-Yves Chauve, the race doctor, Yann is suffering from a broken thighbone.

The monohull, Generali, that has hove to, is currently 800 miles south of Australia in the Indian Ocean. The Australian emergency services were immediately alerted and are looking at ways to get Yann off as quickly as possible.

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