As the jury officially announced re-considering the Bernard Stamm case, the CHEMINEES POUJOULAT skipper informed his team on land during the night that his boat has collided a non-identified floating object. Upon impact the port side hydro generator was torn off and the second also seemed out of order.
Those were the only means of energy available after the repairs made in New Zealand. Deprived of automatic piloting, Bernard Stamm has no other choice but to find shelter after the Cape Horn, which he's 900 miles away. Chances to remain in the race are becoming scarce.
Arnaud Boissieres
You'll see outside... it's heavy duty!A little over 100 miles behind the Swiss who probably must be steering under the same conditions, Arnaud Boissieres was this morning in winds varying from 18 to 45 knots!
Arnaud Boissieres
I have the main sheet here, if I notice that the helm shifts too much towards the left, I ease right off to avoid the boat from keeling over!Off the Argentinian coasts, François Gabart was still ahead of Armel Le Cleac'h by about 40 miles (distance to the goal).
The two whose routes had parted over the last days.
François Gabart
The lateral gap there is today is probably the maximum gap there'll be between the boats. I'd tend to think our routes will converge in the coming days, maybe not in the next 24 or 48 hours, but in the next 3-4 days I'm pretty sure they will.Only 226 miles from the leaders, he who was as far as 650 miles behind in the Pacific, with a blade between his teeth, Jean-Pierre Dick is on the war path. Will the Three Musketeers end up in a fight?
