They cross paths with... a submarine!

VIDEOS. Several skippers came face-to-face with a submarine this Wednesday. Romain Bouillard and Irina Gracheva (Décrochons la lune) immortalized the scene this afternoon before Davy Beaudart and Julia Simon (Hellowork) filmed it later in the day. Here's an explanation of this particularly rare occurrence in ocean racing.

The surreal scene occurred this Wednesday afternoon off the Portuguese coast. Romain Bouillard and Irina Gracheva were continuing their progress at a brisk pace, having managed to join the leading group. It was then that they spotted a dark mass in the distance. It was nothing like the numerous dolphins that often accompany skippers, nor a whale like the one encountered yesterday by the duo Alexis Thomas and Pauline Courtois (Wings of the Oceans).

Romain and Irina did spot a submarine. Part of it was actually emerging above the water. Zooming in on their photos, the warship can clearly be seen. " At first, we were really surprised," says Irina, who was the first to see it. "We were thinking, 'What shape is this boat?' It looked like a whale, but it was actually bigger! "

Irina then woke Romain up to witness the scene. " She woke me up by saying: 'A submarine, a submarine!' I was a bit out of it... It's really impressive to see one like that. " Romain assures that they then warned the other skippers. " It passed close to the others too ."

Moreover, a little later, it was the turn of Davy Beaudart and Julia Courtois (Hellowork) to pass right by. "It's rare to see them so close," Davy points out. Irina concludes with a burst of laughter: " They were watching us on the AIS and came out of the water to watch the race !"