Sailing | “I’m sorry to hear such dramatic news” – The winning favorite of Yksinperjehdu ran into a rocky beach in the Canary Islands at night

One is off again as the solo sailing Golden Globe Race (GGR) continues in the Atlantic.

American by Guy deBour the boat ran aground at night on the north coast of Fuerteventura in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands at the weekend. The local marine rescue vessel fetched the skipper to safety, but the sailboat got stuck on rocks.

“Now we have to think about how to get the boat out of there. I don’t want it to continue sailing alone,” deBour said in a press release from GGR race organizers.

Before running aground, deBour had become seasick for the first time and lost radio contact. Last week, he came close to crashing into a fishing boat, which he passed only five meters away.

DeBour is one of the favorites to win the GGR race. At the start, he said that three skippers would sail around the globe in less than 200 days, and that he was going to be one of them.

Already before, solo sailing was interrupted by a Canadian Edward Walentynowicz, whose boat had a broken wind rudder. He returned to the port of departure in Les Sables-d’Olonne.

Tapio Lehtinencontinues the race in second place. Lehtinen passed Lanzarote over the weekend, where sailors had the opportunity to drop, for example, rolls of film into the rubber boat of the race organizers.

Lehtinen was sorry for the fate of the American skipper.

“I’m sorry to hear such dramatic news. Fortunately, Guy is safe”, Lehtinen messaged.

Everything was fine in Lehtinen’s Asteria boat. When contacted by Finnish radio amateurs, Lehtinen said that he enjoyed sailing, but wondered where the trade winds had gone.

“We should get back on the conveyor belt of the trade winds.”

Radio amateurs may only communicate with Lehtinen through marine stations. The connection is maintained via the Finnish Finnpulp vessel anchored off Travemünde.

The video filmed in Lanzarote showed that the sides and stern of Lehtinen’s boat are clean of cursed barnacles.

“Captain Barnacle” reminded that in the previous race, four years ago, the crustaceans had stuck to the bottom of the boat only after the equator.

Next, Lehtinen heads towards Cape Town, where there is the next intermediate stop (film gate).

The stop is mostly formal: the sailors are not allowed to leave their boats and they are not allowed to be given any help or material.

On Monday Lehtinen has sailed more than 1,800 nautical miles, about 3,333 kilometers. There are about 24,730 nautical miles left, about 45,800 kilometers.

The race is led by an Englishman Simon Curwenwho has torn a small neck in Lehtinen.

“Perhana, it has already come a long way,” Lehtinen said after hearing about the competition situation.

Irish Pat Lawless is third. Lawless is suffering from a knee infection and the antibiotics are low.

The race doctor advised Lawless to stop in Lanzarote so stronger painkillers and antibiotics could be delivered to him.

Lawless refused because outside help would have ended his GGR streak. He should have continued to sail in the consolation class, the Chichester class,

After the interruptions, there are 14 boats.

British skipper Ertan at Beskardes had electrical problems on his boat. In addition, he had fallen on the deck of his boat and fell into the cockpit, but continues the race in seventh place.

In the last GGR race four years ago, Beskardes stopped after a few days.

The youngest participant in the competition, 27 years old Elliott Smith struggling at sea with a mast in poor condition. The American’s boat also has leaks. He is just approaching the Canary Islands.

“Elliott has the smallest budget and perhaps the most modest boat in the race. We’ll see how far he can go,” Lehtinen told HS before leaving on September 4.

Lehtinen had pumped ten liters of water from Asteria’s bow and stern. There were also occasional leaks in the small window of the toilet.

“Leaks are a matter of course when sailing in bad weather,” Lehtinen said.

Sailors are expected to finish next spring.

Helsingin Sanomat follows GGR’s race events and Tapio Lehtinen’s journey in a story series from start to finish. The website of the competition and the organizers’ competition monitoring can be found here.