Day 10, Monday February 15, 1999

© Photo Richard Konkolski

In the morning both of Isabelle Autissier's emergency beacons started sending distress calls. She had EPIRB and GPIRB units on her boat as well as a portable GPIRB in her emergency bag. Autissier's emergency beacon was activated at 1423 Greenwich Mean Time. At the time of the distress signal she was in the middle of Pacific Oceans about 1,900 nautical miles west of Cape Horn. Nothing else was known.

Autissier's PRB © Photo Billy Black

The Race Organizators immediately checked communication connection with the whole fleet and received responses from everyone but Autissier. About three hours later race officials contacted Giovanni Soldini, who immediately turned towards Autissier's last known position. Soldini was approximately 200 miles to the northeast at the time.

Isabelle Autissier

Autissier's shore team in France has notified race officials that Autissier did make very short and disturbed contact earlier this day. She was able to say that she had been "capsized". Her last known position showed her at around 55 south, 127 west, right in the middle of fierce winds and high seas. There was a very intense low at around 60 south, 115 west and another low was farther back at 55 south 145 west. The lows were going to move east and strengthen substantially over the next 24 hours. Winds on the north side of it should have been 40 to 45 knots gusting to as high as 55 knots. Sea could have been over 25 feet.

Not long before the distress signal went on, Isabelle Autissier emailed: "A beautiful morning, with snowy squalls alternating with sunshine, which melted the snow. But this morning, it turned very gray and the wind picked up. I'm waiting for a wind shift to the west to jibe. I sure hope it isn't in the middle of the night, because handling sail then is really cold. This morning I repaired the mainsail; a few inches were torn at the top, probably because of chafe. I struck the sail and stitched it up. I also repaired a batten sail slide; there was a problem with the bearings. Then I steered during the squalls, because the wind is variable, and took naps in between them. Today's a holiday, I changed my clothes... After all the sail handling with the main, I was soaked... Ah, warm clothes! I'm also using the little heater my sister Valerie gave me, to dry my spare pair of boots."

Marc Thiercelin also sent one of his rare messages: "The weekend was fast one, as I broke my own 24-hour speed record by covering 396.5 miles. But this is sailing right on the edge, with a very high level of stress. The ocean here is powerful. The waves are very high and steep, and everything lies under enormous clouds from Antarctica, loaded with hail and snow. The air is glacial, but the sunshine between the squalls magnificent. On Sunday, while I was resting, SOMEWHERE apparently almost went ass over teakettle. She must have started to pitchpole, because all the gear aft--tanks, bags, etc.--flew forward, and ripped the computer loose on the way. Luckily, I have a spare! I came through all right, because it must have been a terrible wave. I had to straighten out the rudders after the mess; that's the second time during this leg. I may pass the waypoint on Tuesday morning, so I can expect to near Cape Horn next Sunday. The waypoint is exactly where Isa and I searched for Gerry Rouf two years ago. It gives me a weird feeling to be going back to the same place. Let's hope the weather is different this time."

© Photo Richard Konkolski

Positions:

Class 1

Class 2

Copyright © Richard Konkolski
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