The Southern Ocean has been battering the rigs of the boats sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) as the fleet rounds Cape Horn. On Friday, Vestas 11th Hour Racing was dismasted. The Vestas boat lost its mast in 25 to 30 knot northerly winds with 3-meter waves. No one was reported to be injured. The crew cut away the mast to avoid damaging the hull. The dismasting took place southwest of the Falklands Islands. Vestas 11th Hour is now motoring to the Falklands.
This is the second major casualty for Vestas 11th Hour, a joint American-Danish team. Near the end of Leg 4 in late January, the boat collided with a fishing boat off Hong Kong, killing one fisherman, sinking the fishing boat and damaging the yacht. The Vestas 11th Hour Racing boat was shipped to New Zealand to repair a large hole in its port bow, forcing it to miss two legs.
The day before Vestas 11th Hour lost its rig, the MAPFRE team temporarily suspending racing for 13 hours to repair the mainsail track, which had separated from the mast, and to repair a ripped mainsail. MAPFRE, which had been the fleet leader, rejoined the race on Friday in sixth place.
A few hours after Vestas 11th Hour was dismasted, Turn the Tide on Plastics reduced sail to investigate spreader damage. As described by the VOR website: The starboard side second spreader root, the component used to attach the spreader to the mast has moved causing the spreader to now be raked further aft on that spreader only, therefore resulting in some rig control and alignment issues. …
The team’s current plan is to continue sailing on port tack with a reduced sail plan therefore reducing the load on this part of the rig. They have sailed this with no further issues for the past 12 hours. When conditions are appropriate they will look at the possibility to adjust the spreader back to its correct position or make other rig adjustments to improve the rig stability.
This has been a particularly difficult week in the Volvo Ocean Race. Last Monday, British sailor, John Fisher, crew on the Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag, went overboard on Monday and was lost at sea. Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag is now bound for a port in Chile.
Of the seven starting boats, five are now still sailing on the seventh leg of the race from Aulkland, NZ to Itajaí, Brazil.
Has SHK/Scallywag reached Chile? There seems to be a news blackout on where they are and what they are doing.
Carbon is so wonderful until it isn’t. Leaving aside collisions, it’s surprising to see these boats falling apart in conditions that while pretty sporty are routinely shrugged off by other sailing vessels.
The need for speed. 🙂