The International Jury of the 2020 Vendée Globe have published their decisions for time compensations awarded to three of the four skippers who were involved in the rescue operation for Kevin Escoffier during the period late afternoon and overnight Monday, November 30 when the skipper had to abandon his boat some 850 miles SW of Cape Town.

Race Direction asked four competitors to change their course and put their race on hold, to assist Escoffier, the PRB skipper. The four skippers subsequently requested redress. Sébastien Simon (ARKEA PAPREC), who was involved was later forced to retire due to damage to his boat and therefore waived his claim for redress.

The three skippers are Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ IV​), Jean le Cam (Yes We Cam!), Boris Herrmann (SeaExplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco).

The international jury of the Vendée Globe 2020, chaired by Georges Priol (FRA), after investigation, established that the progress of these three solo sailors "was significantly altered through no fault of (their) own, to go and give help to FR85 in accordance with RRS 1.1. The conditions for giving redress are met (RRS 62.1 (C)”.

These "rectifications" are expressed as a time compensation.

This time will be credited to the three skippers once the finish line is crossed. Decisions are final with no appeal.

Decisions

  • Jean Le Cam - Yes We Cam!

“Regarding the time spent rescuing Kevin Escoffier (PRB), and after evaluating the impact on his race, the Vendée Globe international jury awarded Jean Le Cam 16 hours and 15 minutes of compensation. This compensation will be applied to him when crossing the finish line. "

  • Yannick Bestaven - Maître CoQ IV

“Regarding the time spent rescuing Kevin Escoffier (PRB), and after evaluating the impact on his race, the Vendée Globe international jury awarded Yannick Bestaven 10 hours and 15 minutes of compensation. This compensation will be applied to him when crossing the finish line. "

  • Boris Herrmann - Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco

“Regarding the time spent rescuing Kevin Escoffier (PRB), and after evaluating the impact on his race, the Vendée Globe international jury awarded Boris Herrmann 6 hours of compensation. This compensation will be applied to him when crossing the finish line. 

 

The distribution of roles

The race management which managed the rescue operations, also took note of the redress request made by the skippers. It reports to the President of the Jury and to the Vendée Globe race committee. The jury takes its decision by a majority decision of its members. It is up to the race committee to apply them on the crossing of the line by these three skippers.

* Jury Members: Georges PRIOL (IJ-FRA), President; Lance Burger (IJ-RS);  Romain Gautier (IJ FRA); Trevor Lewis (IJ GBR);  Ana Sanchez (IJ ESP)