Jean-Luc Van den Heede's failed attempts:

(1st attempt) ALGIMOUSS HITS A FLOATING OBJECT WEST OF CAPE HORN

In 1999, Jean-Luc tried in his Open 60 yawl, Algimouss, but hit something in the Southern Ocean which split the hull. When it started to delaminate, he admitted defeat and turned back ...

(2rd attempt) WELD AT THE FRONT OF ADRIEN'S KEEL'S ALUMINIUM CAGE CRACKED

Not far from Cape Horn, in his brand new yacht Adrien built by Chantiers GAMELIN (La Rochelle), a weld at the front of the keel's aluminium cage cracked and the keel began to move. Jean-Luc judged it too dangerous to continue ...

(3rd attempt) ADRIEN'S MAST FELL FOR "NO APPARENT REASON", IT BROKE OFF JUST ABOVE IT'S FOOT [ANAN-90/02]

Solo 'wrong way around?' sailor Jean-Luc Van Den Heede's 26-m yacht 'Adrien' lost its mast (NordicMast) while deep in the Southern Ocean south of Australia on 7 January and he has been forced to abandon his around-the-world voyage.  'Adrien', which is now under a jury rig, is making very slow progress northwards and it is expected to be another week or more before he reaches port in either south-eastern Australia or New Zealand.

'Adrien' was over 1,500 km south-west of Hobart, Australia, in latitude 55 degrees south when, according to Van Den Heede, the mast fell for "no apparent reason".  It broke off just above its foot and it took him nearly six hours of "very difficult and exhausting work" to clear the deck of the debris and save the yacht as he was "very worried that the mast might puncture Adrien's hull".  It took him another day to install a suitable jury rig.

Reports suggest that the make-shift rig is limiting how much the yacht can be manoeuvred across the wind and that while Van Den Heede is currently heading for Melbourne, Australia, conditions could force him to head north at a slower rate and he may yet have to head for New Zealand.

Despite his problems, the French sailor, who has a wealth of deep ocean sailing experience, hopes that he can reach either Australia or New Zealand without outside assistance.  The Australian Search and Rescue Centre is monitoring Van Den Heede's progress.  At the time of the dis-masting, 'Adrien' was (and has been since) well inside the range of Australia's maritime patrol aircraft.  'Adrien' was also some 850 km further south than the nearest boat in the 'Around Alone' fleet (see ANAN-90/07 following).

In late December, in the week after he passed the International Date Line (ANAN-89/11, 1 January 2003), Van Den Heede started to take 'Adrien' further south.  On his way west he had hoped to pass through the 35km-wide gap between the southern tip of sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island and the small islets of Bishop and Clerk, but thick fog caused him to head further south lest he inadvertently encounter land.  He then continued his southward course, saying that "no Vendee Globe competitors have ever reported seeing icebergs" when they were in about latitude 57 or 58 degrees south in those longitudes; that the distance to the Cape of Good Hope was shorter the further south he went; and that he would be more likely to encounter easterly winds on the southern side of low pressure systems.

Van Den Heede's mast failed just three days after he had passed the half-way mark of his voyage, at which time he was running 16 days ahead of the record for a solo 'wrong way' voyage set by Philippe Monnet two years ago (ANAN-89/11, 1 January 2003).  By the time he had to abandon his attempt Van Den Heede had increased this lead to more than 18 days and was starting to talk publicly about the possibility that he might lower Monnet's 151 day 19 hour record by as much as 20 to 25 days.