While sailing to Brittany, the navigator was attacked by killer whales. A unique experience for the double participant in the Vendée Globe.
By Nathan Joubioux for Le Point
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Sébastien Destremau may have taken part in the Vendée Globes twice, but he still happens to have new experiences on the water. This week, the crew of the boat Lancelot, led by the Breton, was sailing off the Cape of Trafalgar, in the south of Spain, when he was visited by at least eight orcas, explains Sails and sailboats. For more than an hour, the members of the crew suffered the battering of the animals. “It was very impressive and we were very scared,” admits Sébastien Destremau.
The skipper then brings the boat to a stop and lowers the sails, as required by procedure. “I am not at all convinced that stopping the ship is the right strategy, but, not speaking the language of the orcas, it is difficult for me to be affirmative. More seriously, it’s terrifying to feel a fifteen ton boat being shaken like a nutshell. We weren’t far on board. »
“They were trying to tell us something”
Before possibly heading back to sea to reach Brittany, the skipper stopped in Cadiz to carry out some checks. Only the rudder suffered from the attack. The boat did not fill with water, allowing Sébastien Destremau to reach the coast without assistance.
“I would never have imagined being the victim of an attack,” he admits. He corrects himself immediately: “Besides, attack is probably not a good choice of word, because there was no aggressiveness towards the humans that we are, but only towards the boat. It will sound crazy but, somewhere, we have the feeling that they were trying to tell us something. »