Barcelona World Race Sailor Info: Veolia Dismasts

Summary: At 1800 Veolia dismasted after rejoining the race from a repair stop in the Kerguelen Islands

Details:

• When she lost her mast Veolia was approximately 1660 miles south-west of the SW tip of Australia and approximately 500 miles east of the Kerguelen Islands.
• Veolia is now sailing towards Australia under jury rig.
  
• PRB, Delta Dore and Veolia have all retired via losing their mast. All spars were built by Lorima.
• Hugo Boss has gained 114 miles in the last 24 hours on leader Paprec Vibrac 2. The current gap is 36 miles.
• Mutua Madrilena is fastest in the fleet at 18 knots.
  
• Delta Dore has arrived in Cape Town
  

References: Lorima

Weather: NE 20-30 knots.

Quotes:

Jean Luc Nelias "At the first moment, you don't feel anything. You have to preserve the boat, so Bilou woke up and came on deck and we each took a knife to start to cut all the ropes and sail and rigging from the boat. There is no comment, no discussion. It's only after, when the mast is in the water that 'phew' there is a lot of emotion coming. It was a disaster. Bilou was very affected and me too certainly. It's a job, it's like that. We take a lot of pleasure from sailing and sometimes we are very disappointed. We've known that for a long time and it's always the same story...sometimes you are lucky, sometimes unlucky. That's all."

Alex Thomson "We are almost level with Perth now, and it makes me feel like we have come a long way; but we are only about halfway through!"

Roland Jourdain "We were sailing with full main sail and gennaker, the wind was maybe 20-22 knots. Suddenly there was a stronger gust, the boat went down into a wave and the mast broke. I was sleeping inside and Jean Luc was inside too doing a bit of work, he had just had some sleep. Really it was nothing unusual, we were doing the same as we do every day there was nothing different and we don’t really understand what happened."