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DAY 114 – Loïc Lepage rescue successful

Dateline 16:30 UTC 22.10.2018 – Hobart, Tasmania

French solo yachtsman Loïc Lepage was successfully transferred from his dismasted yacht Laaland by the Japanese bulk carrier Shiosai at 00:53 UTC Monday

The rescue, which took place in the South Indian Ocean some 670 miles SW of Perth Western Australia, commenced shortly after first light once the Australian P-8A search and rescue plane was overhead. Members of the Shiosai crew were lowered down in the ship’s recovery vessel, and though the rolling swell presented a few challenges, Lepage was plucked from his yacht and successfully transferred to the ship.

Francis Tolan, skipper of the S/V Alizes II, a Beneteau Ocean 43 competing in the Long Route solo circumnavigation who also came to the aid of Lepage, was released from search and rescue tasking and sincerely thanked by both the Golden Globe Race Organisers and the Australian Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra, which oversaw the operation.

In a message to Alizes II , JRCC said:

Your efforts and endeavours to provide a fellow mariner with requested assistance in challenging conditions are in keeping with the greatest traditions of a mariner at sea. Well done and thank you.

Don McIntyre, Chairman of the GGR, added:

Everyone at the Golden Globe Race have complete admiration and the utmost respect for all involved with the successful rescue of Loïc. The professionalism, expertise and passion displayed at all levels is truly amazing. You are all a great asset to Australia and mariners everywhere.

The 176,827 Ton Japanese bulk carrier Shiosai has now resumed her course with Loïc Lepage aboard, bound for Las Palmas, Argentina and is scheduled to dock there on 22nd November.

The tracking signal for Lepage‘s yacht Laaland ceased at 06:30 UTC today and is assumed to have been scuttled.

Lepage was sailing the Chichester Class within the GGR, having stopped in Cape Town to make repairs and replenish supplies. 8 of the original 18 starters remain in the GGR solo non-stop challenge.

PLEASE NOTE!!!

Facebook is our frontline LIVE and information update platform for everything on the GGR. You can catch it all too on the DAY BY DAY section of the LIVE button on the GGR website. We do not want to bombard you with emails. Usally there is on average two email updates a week with extras as something important is happening. To keep up with the very latst you can listen to the GGR SOUNDCLOUD phone calls from entrants each week. You can read all the entrant daily tweets for what they are doing on twitter. You can also watch all the Facebook LIVE sessions on the tracker for explinations and read the daily written summary explinations of WHAT IS HAPPENING on GGR Facebook. We try to cover everything but when there is a lot happening you need to go to a few places to keep up. Hope you are enjoying the coverage!

All the best,

Don and the team

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