I was competing in a solo, around-the-world yacht race when I received the emergency telex. My friend Isabelle Autissier was missing somewhere nearby in the South Pacific and nobody could make contact. Her boat had been battered by high winds for days and then a powerful gust had caused her yacht to capsize and had broken the mast.
Inside the upturned hull, Isa had just enough time to contact her team before losing radio communication. It meant they knew she was alive but her position remained difficult — she was drifting some 1,900 miles from the coast of South America. It would take a week for a search boat to arrive and the location was too remote for a rescue helicopter.
Isa and I had known each other for years and we were both competing in the same race. At that point, I was 200 miles north of her last known position in my own sailing yacht, Fila. It was 4am and although I was one of the leaders in the race, it took just a split second for me to make a decision. I was going to turn south and look for my friend.