Looks like the French Dudes are still out there. They sprung a leak but seem to have fixed it. From their blog:

on the 30th
Yesterday the sea was very rough with 30 knots of wind (60km/heure) and waves of 2 meters. This morning the sea is calmer, the wind fell a little, there are cons grains. At 9:00 with a heading of 75 ° and an average speed of 8 knots, Octo Finance continues its road.

Todays blog
The experience of our two browsers combined with a morale of steel and high tenacity enabled them to cope with a major technical problem with calm and serenity. We know since Sunday that the crew found the source of the leak appeared Saturday, a game important link between the boom and the float route.

Since the vacation Monday night at the base, the crew has brought more accuracy.

It is the attachment between the starboard float and the beam is located at the rear of the boat (there are two beams: the front that supports the mast and the rear).

The fixation is via two bolts and one had taken the game (probably because of the efforts caused by rough seas) which led the roundness of the hole in the hull of the float composite. This has created a leak, the danger was that the float dissociated himself from the rear beam, then the resulting failure of fixation of the same float on the beam before ... and the dislocation of the boat!

Fortunately before coming here, there are solutions. Pierre Yves and Benedict have a very solid experience in the technical preparation therefore, in the middle of the Atlantic, begun meetings DIY!

Stopping at the first time about 3 hours around midnight French time on the night from Sunday to Monday (late afternoon on Sunday for them), they then sailed without much fire on the boat during the night to to see what gave them compensation. At dawn Monday (noon French time), they found that their compensation was not required, thereby forcing a new technical stop in the middle of the Atlantic. After 3 hours of work (before slipping into the float to reach the other end of the bolt), they seem to have a repair gives more satisfaction.

To be brief, they were secured to the beam and the float in the now firmly against each other with ropes surrounding the float and the beam, rope turned up with a system of pulleys.

The crew seemed reassured, and the requirement to divert their route to St Pierre and Miquelon or the Azores seems so far rejected. They will of course monitor consistently repair. To overcome their fears that this problem appears elsewhere, they will also make regular checks of other attachments between the beams and floats.

A few hours after the vacation, the crew sent a photo of their compensation.

We invite all the Lorient encourage them to come and ask questions every evening at 18:30 (states) in the bar restaurant "La Base" near the City of Sail, when the vacation online. No doubt the feat before they try to do the applause which conclude each vacation can only encourage and support their morale!






Got to keep going at his point...