Isabelle Autissier is reported to have taken to her liferaft after her Open 60 capsized 1,900 miles west of Cape Horn at about 55 south, 125.5 west, while competing in the third leg of the Around Alone Race. At 1423 GMT Monday 15 Feb Autissier’s emergency EPIRB beacon was activated whereupon the Race Operations Centre (ROC) in Charleston, S.C. immediately polled the entire fleet and received responses from everyone but Autissier. At 1730 GMT, via COMSAT email, race officials sent Giovanni Soldini to intersect with Autissier’s last known position. Soldini was approximately 200 miles to the Northeast at the time. Autissier’s shore team in France has notified Around Alone officials that Autissier, made voice contact earlier today. Speaking over a line that was crackling with interference, Autissier reportedly said she’d been “capsized” prior to activating the beacon. No other information was available. However, Race officials say they are receiving regular reports of her position from her GPIRB unit that she carries in her emergency bag. With a worsening forecast for conditions in her area, Around Alone sailing commentator Mark Rudiger (navigator aboard the winning yacht in the last Sydney to Hobart Race) said that a low at 980 millibars could spell big trouble, even for a boat that was not damaged. “In the Sydney to Hobart storm the low was at 984 millibars,” said Rudiger. “This low out there now is lower than that. On top of that, a 980 millibar low is worse in the Southern Ocean than in the Tasman sea due to the fact the air is so cold [and] the wind density is so much higher.”