Vendée Globe News - Near Disaster in the Roaring Forties

Vincent Riou sailing PRB and Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec Virbac 2) had a big scare this afternoon, when they nearly collided!

Vincent Riou left his chart table this afternoon, and stepped into the cockpit to find Jean-Pierre Dick and his yacht Paprec-Virbac sailing very close - way too close! "It is difficult to establish a distance but it was about 20 - 30 seconds until we would have had a collision," said Vincent to his shore crew moments after the near miss. "My AIS-alarm and anti-collision radar were running, but I never heard ringing." Riou quickly grabbed the tiller of PRB and accelerating the boat, barely avoiding a collision! "It was one of the most dangerous moments I have ever had on the open seas. With Virbac, I was forced to grab the helm, because he was starboard, and I was on the port side.  So I just had to give way, as he had priority! It just goes to show how close we are. It's completely mad!" said Vincent Riou.

Vincent called Jean Pierre Dick on his yacht Paprec Virbac 2 right after the incident, only to find JP asleep in his boat. In fact, JP thought Vincent was joking with him! "I just came within a few meters of PRB. I didn't see him as I was sleeping. Vincent called me to tell me.  Luckily he saw me, or it would have been a complete disaster!  With hindsight, it was pretty scary!"  said a very lucky Jean-Pierre Dick.

Vendée Globe Standings

December 2nd 2008 00:00 GMT

(find the current standings at the Vendée Globe group)

1. Sébastien Josse - BT
2. Loick Peyron, Gitana Eighty
3. Yann Eliès - Generali
4. Roland Jourdain - Veolia Environnement
5. Armel Le Cléac´h - Brit Air
6. Jean-Pierre Dick, Paprec Virbac 2
7. Vincent Riou, PRB
8. Mike Golding, Ecover 3
9. Jean Le Cam - VM Matériaux
10. Marc Guillemont - Safran
11. Michel Desjoyeaux - Foncia
12. Dominique Wavre - Temenos
13. Brian Thompson - Pindar
14. Samantha Davies - Roxy
15. Dee Caffari - Aviva
16. Arnaud Boissières - Akena Vérandas
17. Steve White - Toe in the Water (Spirit of Weymouth)
18. Jonny Malbon - Artemis
19. Bernard Stamm - Cheminées Poujoulat
20. Rich Wilson - Great American III
21. Unai Basurko - Pakea Bizkaia    
22. Raphaël Dinelli - Fondation Océan Vital
23. Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty - Maisonneuve
24. Derek Hatfield - Algimouss Spirit of Canada
25. Norbert Sedlacek - Nauticsport-Kapsch

Read more about the Vendee Globe:

Vendée Globe - Week 4