Adventure Articles
The owner of the Oyster 82 sailing yacht ‘Raven’, Philippe Goossens, received a distress call on 27 December while in Cape Town, notifying him of a distress signal from a boat of the same name. Alerted to an unfolding emergency, the ‘Raven’ swiftly responded in spite of their upcoming participation in the Oyster World Rally and navigational concerns being over 70 nautical miles away from the source of the distress beacon.
Despite the growing distance and logistical challenges, such as refit works and limited fuel reserves, the ‘Raven’ crew recalibrated their direction towards the beacon. On the morning of 28 December, their gallant efforts culminated in the discovery of Rebecca Ferry, a 47-year-old British solo rower whose namesake boat had been adrift, following the critical malfunction of its steering system and solar panels.
The team aboard the Sodebo Ultim 3 has been relentlessly pursuing the coveted Jules Verne Trophy for a month now. With stalwarts like Thomas Coville, Benjamin Schwartz, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle, and Nicolas Troussel on board, the team embarked on this audacious journey on December 15th. Their journey so far has been marked by record-breaking times and awe-inspiring moments.
Surpassing challenges in the form of the three daunting capes - Good Hope, Leeuwin, and Horn - they have made remarkable progress, consistently maintaining an impressive average speed of 30 knots (56 km/h). However, they remain steadfast and focussed on their ultimate goal - breaking the round-the-world record held by IDEC Sport since 2017.