Bluff ready to bail out blundering French sailor

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Powerless French solo round-the-world sailor Thierry Dubois will have to blunder into Bluff for help tomorrow.

Dubois has been forced to pull out of the Vendee Globe non-stop single-handed circumnavigation race after losing battery power on his 60ft boat.

Not expecting to stop in New Zealand, the skipper has no charts of the waters around Stewart Island and the Southland coast.

But local harbour pilots expect to bump into him tomorrow morning as they guide a container ship into port.

David Yeowell, marine manager for South Port, was yesterday helping to organise a mission to go to Dubois' assistance.

"We'll be out there bringing a ship in anyway, so his timing is just perfect," Mr Yeowell said. "It's a difficult area of water, he won't know where to go and he won't know about the strong tide out there.

"But we're quite used to this. We've had two or three round-the-world sailors call in for help over the years. We almost expect it now."

Dubois, aged 33, is determined to complete a circumnavigation after having to be rescued from his capsized yacht in the Indian Ocean in the last Vendee Globe four years ago.

"I don't want the rest of my circumnavigation to become a nightmare effort to battle my way round under constant risk," he said from the boat.

Help is being flown in from around the globe to get Dubois' self-built boat Solidaires back sailing safely.

A new "brain" for the boat's autopilot is on its way from France, and a battery and alternator have been sent from Auckland.