Withdrawal after damage
The Class40 yacht RDT Logistic – Forvis Mazars, skippered by Renaud COURBON and Gilles COURBON, has officially withdrawn from the Transat Cafe LOR after sustaining damage in the mid-Atlantic. The pair are diverting to Cascais, Portugal, where they will assess the extent of the issue.
In a short statement released by the team, they confirmed:
“There’s been damage on board. Renaud and Gilles are heading for Cascais. This diversion will not allow them to rejoin the race. The crew is fine. More information to come.”
A tough week in the Atlantic
The news comes just 24 hours after the crew reported manageable but testing conditions on social media. Sailing close-hauled into persistent headwinds, they described the experience as “a sleeping boat, a moving boat, a tapping boat, a wet boat” — conditions that wear heavily on both boat and crew.
“The wind of fifteen knots last night did us good,” Gilles wrote in an update. “We were able to sleep a little. But the next night, a new front arrives, so today we preserve ourselves because we know what’s ahead.”
At the time, the team was clocking 30 knots of apparent wind and sitting 37th in the Class40 fleet, with 3,001 nautical miles still to sail to the Caribbean finish line.
Safe but disappointed
While the retirement ends their Transat Jacques Vabre campaign, both sailors are reported safe and in good spirits as they make for port. The cause and nature of the damage have not yet been disclosed, though the team says further updates will follow once the boat reaches Cascais.
For Renaud and Gilles, who had battled fatigue and heavy weather since leaving Le Havre, the early exit is a hard blow — but safety always comes first on a transatlantic race as demanding as this.
