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Sailing-Early Route Du Rhum Setback for Dorange as Protest Looms After Crash

The team says the boat suffered foil and hull damage after the contact, and Dorange will sail to Lorient for repairs.

  • On Sunday, 25-year-old sailor Violette Dorange collided with Romain Pilliard shortly after the Route du Rhum race start from Saint-Malo, France, in the transatlantic competition.
  • Pilliard told French sports daily L'Equipe he is lodging a complaint against Initiatives-Coeur, calling the incident a 'mistake' while acknowledging Dorange is a skilled sailor.
  • Dorange described it as a 'racing incident,' explaining, 'Romain had to make a manoeuvre that put Use It Again in front of Initiatives-Coeur's path. I didn't have enough time to adjust my settings.'
  • Both skippers headed to Roscoff to assess damage; Pilliard reported his boat is 'broken,' while Dorange's Initiatives-Coeur IMOCA suffered issues affecting its foil and hull.
  • Dorange claimed two podium finishes during this year's IMOCA season after becoming the youngest competitor to finish the Vendee Globe in 2025, making this collision a significant setback in the Route du Rhum.
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26 Articles

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Revealed to the general public during the last Vendée Globe, Violette Dorange hoped to continue her journey. But the young navigator is already experiencing a serious setback in her new adventure. ...

·Brussels, Belgium
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The Benjamine of the last Vendée Globe, Violette Dorange, was forced to stop at Roscoff (Finistère) after a collision with a competitor a few hours after the start of the Route du Rhum on Sunday 1st...

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The 25-year-old skipper damaged her starboard foil by hitting Romain Pilliard's trimaran. She was forced to stop at Roscoff to repair.

·Paris, France
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ici.fr broke the news on Sunday, November 1, 2026.
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