A third trimaran crashes upside down, this time in an 80-knot gust

At dawn this morning, Yvan Bourgnon’s Rexona Men became the lastest trimaran to capsize. Bourgnon was 215 miles west of the Spanish port of Vigo when the boat flipped and he had taken down the mainsail and was sailing under jib alone. Bourgnon reported a gust of 75 knots and at the time of the capsize he was inside the cabin and on the phone to his weather router.

Bourgnon said that a bigger gust – he estimates it as 80 knots – lifted the boat and turned it over, too quickly for him to get out and ease the sheet. He immediately set off his Inmarsat B distress beacon and phoned his shore crew using his Iridium phone.

According to this morning’s press statement, Bourgnon has decided to stay aboard. ‘He has 10 days of food supply, and is not asking for rescue.’

His shore crew will be arranging for him to be picked up and the boat hopefully towed ashore to Spain.

We will post more news when we have it.