The fourth day after leaving Les Sables d’Olonne proved ominous when two spinnakers – large and small were badly damaged in quick succession, with one rendered useless for the remainder of the race. Nevertheless, the sailor from Normandy, who notched up an 8th place in the 2022 Vendée-Arctique and 14th in the 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre, is not the type to give up easily. He bought his badly fire damaged 14-year-old boat in 2020, and rebuilt it with his team.
Five years later, he was crossing the equator at speed and in 23rd place. He was in good spirits, as he took the lead of his small group in the South Atlantic, having routed further to the west. He then pushed his boat hard in the Indian ocean, enduring periods of 60 knot winds before passing Cape Leeuwin in 25th place and well ahead of a number of newer foiling IMOCAs.
However, the following night, his starboard rudder tie bar broke, as did a support for the hydrogenerator, forcing more long hours of DIY. Nevertheless just four days later, the skipper of Fives Group – Lantana Environnement beat his personal solo 24 hour distance record over 24 hours, covering 469 miles.
This impressive performance enabled him to catch up with the leading boats in his group, who were slowed by calms at the entrance to the Pacific. Then, after 48 hours in a storm that some had chosen to avoid by slowing down, Louis was barrelling towards Cape Horn, which he rounded in 26th place. This was a happy and proud moment, even if his autopilot was now limited to “compass” mode.
However, this hindered progress, as did the spinnaker problems in the next area of calmer winds: “I was five days behind the boats I had been with,” Louis says, “it was frustrating but that’s how it is.”
Despite these set backs, Louis took the lead of his group again along the Brazilian coast, climbing back to 24th place. Back in the Northern hemisphere, he negotiated an unusually violent are of tradewinds and was still 26th approaching the Azores, when one of his two daggerboards broke, severely hampering progress on one tack in the final days of the race. Yet Louis continued to remain upbeat and battle to the end, finishing his first circumnavigation in style and itching to leave again.
