Looking back on the BLADE RUNNER – NEOCEAN adventure
[RACE RECAP] Blade Runner, NEOCEAN: That Damn Rudder, Again!
Everything was lining up for Blade Runner, NEOCEAN. Roughly 40 nautical miles from the Grand Passage, the team was charging east on a starboard tack, flying a full symmetrical spinnaker in a solid 25-knot breeze. Conditions were demanding but exhilarating, long, powerful surfs, sometimes topping 14 knots, pushing both boat and crew to their limits.
On board, the routine was tight: three hours on deck, one on standby, three trying to catch sleep in a bunk that slammed with every wave. Despite the punishing rhythm, morale was high and the kitchen was still running like clockwork. Sunday night, spaghetti bolognese. Monday lunch, tuna tartare. And Monday dinner? A now-legendary caramel pork, prepared mid-air. Just as Steeve was dishing up, a violent roll launched him across the cabin. Lids flew, trays tumbled, and dinner ended up with a “distinct taste of deck,” as skipper Damien Meunier later joked.
During the first night, Too Farr Out and Boudicea briefly appeared on AIS, haunting shadows in Blade Runner’s wake. “We felt them right behind us,” Damien recalled. The boat was humming, the team razor-sharp, even a torn mainsheet car was swiftly replaced without breaking stride.
But then came the crash.
Flying down a wave at over 17 knots, Blade Runner buried her bow deep into the next swell. The impact was brutal. The boat slammed, rolled violently, and suddenly, no steering. The rudder had sheared clean off. The same fate that had ended their 2022 race struck again. “That damn rudder,” Damien sighed.
Race over. The spinnaker was dropped. The emergency rudder, dismissed back in Nouméa as too bulky, had become their lifeline. Installed with care in heavy seas, it now guided their crippled vessel through a torturous 60-mile motor slog toward the Balade Pass, crawling at 3 knots.
Starlink was silent, out of range, and Iridium barely held the line to COSS. Over VHF, they heard the distress call for Rushour. It helped put things into perspective, but didn’t ease their own tension. Fuel levels dropped. So did tempers.
And then, like in a movie, help arrived.
“Out of nowhere, at dawn, came Jojo,” Damien said, grinning. Sent by fellow sailors from Koumac, Jojo brought them exactly what they needed most, fuel. No croissants, no glory, just enough diesel to limp north around the tip of New Caledonia. “When you’re that far gone, a jerrycan is better than breakfast in bed.”
The north coast welcomed them with warm skies and island-studded passages. “It looked like a sun-kissed Brittany,” Damien smiled. For a moment, they even hoisted the spinnaker again, pretending it was just “to let it dry,” but the winding islets and fragile rudder had the final say. They dropped it again soon after, but spirits stayed high.
Blade Runner reached Koumac at 11 p.m. No bunks left for everyone, but a hot meal and a feeling of quiet pride wrapped up the night.
The rudder may have been lost, again, but not the crew’s spirit, grit, or humor.
Blade Runner, NEOCEAN bent, but never broke.
Photos: L’Oeil de Cha’, Sky Prodphotography, Fred Cance, and Blade Runner
Partners: NeOcean, Cercle Nautique Calédonien, Groupama, New Caledonia
