French sailors rescued in Transat

BT (right) at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre race

French sailors Sebastien Josse and Jean-Francois Cuzon have been rescued after their boat was damaged in the Jacques Vabre trans Atlantic race.

The BT skippers activated their distress beacon 210 miles north of the Azores on Friday and reported damage to the deck, with water entering the boat.

They pair were airlifted at 1800 GMT by a Portuguese Air Force helicopter and taken to the island of Terceiera.

The two-handed race set sail from Le Havre on Sunday bound for Costa Rica.

The 14-boat fleet of Open 60s was hit by storm-force conditions with winds of more than 50 knots on Thursday night.

Sam Davies, one of six Britons in the race, also reported minor damage to her yacht Artemis but, along with co-skipper Sidney Gavignet, decided to press on.

"It's always the same when you hear that another competitor is in serious trouble and especially when we heard that this morning we were having our own problems," said Davies.

"But they suddenly seemed insignificant compared to what Jo Jo and Jeff [Sébastian Josse and Jeff Cuzon] are having to go through.

"You fear for their safety as even if they are fine their boat is dangerous, and we're in the right place to know what they are going through.

"It's pretty heinous even when your boat is in one piece as Artemis is and going along safely, it still feels dangerous."

Josse and Cuzon won the Open 60 class on BT in the infamous Fastnet race earlier this year.

The biennial Transat Jacques Vabre race, which is expected to take up to three weeks, also lost one of the six Multi50 class multihulls when Jean Le Cam's Actual capsized shortly after the start on Sunday.