At around midday UTC Wednesday 4 December, Louis Burton (BUREAU VALLÉE) informed the Vendée Globe race management that he had to abandon the race.
He is heading towards Cape Town, which he should reach in around 36 hours.
While sailing in 16th place ahead of a depression, in brisk but manageable conditions, Burton suffered a sudden damage to a mechanical element of the rigging.
This meant he could no longer manoeuvre his boat. For 10 hours after that the skipper of Bureau Vallée searched for a solution to repair it. But his efforts have proven to be in vain.
After a careful analysis of the situation, even with the determination that characterises the skipper who finished third on the 2020-21 race, Burton has had to abandon the race.
After having repaired serious cracks in his boat alone at sea a fortnight ago this second major damage has substantially affected the integrity of his boat at a time when the weather conditions in the Southern Ocean are extremely demanding.
This decision was difficult to make but it is as a sailor who has two round the world races under his belt including that third place in the last Vendée Globe and fifteen years of experience on the IMOCA circuit and fifteen transatlantic races to his credit that Burton leaves the 10th edition of the Vendée Globe.
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