Sail and keel problems
The tormented hollows of the oceans which lead the skippers towards participation in the Vendée Globe, the Everest of the seas, are definitely long and strewn with pitfalls. This journey up the North Atlantic was anything but a long, quiet river for Denis Van Weynbergh: “I had to complete part of the course with sail problems to the point that it became impossible for me to furl the downwind sails, forcing me to temporarily take a southern route even though I had opted for the north. As we approached Lorient, I also started to encounter problems with the keel actuator which was showing signs of weakness. He was no longer holding the pressure to keep the keel upwind and was even tilting it downwind. I managed to secure everything to flatten the boat but these lost hours never make up for it… And it is undoubtedly these moments which take me, for two hours, beyond the limit of 50% of the time of the first competitor.” A mixed feeling therefore for our compatriot even if he completes almost 3,500 additional miles in the Vendée Globe race. It will now be a question of finishing one of the last two races and not the least (Editor's note: The Transat CIC from Lorient to New York and the New York Vendée – Les Sables d'Olonne) next April and May in the gauge of these famous 50%… A sine qua non condition to be at the start of the Vendée Globe!
After two fairly grueling transatlantic crossings, the Belgian skipper will have well deserved a few days of rest during the end-of-year celebrations in Belgium. Having barely crossed the line, Denis Van Weynbergh did not dock on the pontoons of Lorient and headed directly towards his adopted home of Les Sables d'Olonne for the first repairs. From January and for a few weeks, the boat will be taken out of the water in Port Bourgenay for maintenance work in preparation for the last two very important races next spring with a view to qualifying for the Vendée Globe 2024.
