Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink have to abandon the Les Sables Horta race two days after their promising start. Placed in the top ten, the young professionals were catapulted out of the race when their port rudder broke. The Class 40 crew was travelling in winds of 30 to 35 knots when the breakage dashed their hopes of a top result.
That really shouldn't happen" (Melwin Fink)
Melwin Fink had just been back on watch for ten minutes on Thursday afternoon when the rudder broke at a boat speed of around 20 knots. Initially, the two young professionals did not believe that there had been a collision. The laminate on the rudder blade was completely broken. Melwin Fink surmised that there may also have been a structural defect in the fitting. The rudder head was also broken and the rudder bar bent. "That shouldn't really happen," said Fink.
With the second rudder, the duo is currently heading for the port of Porto, around 150 nautical miles away. They expect to arrive there on 30 June. The wind conditions remain challenging. "They may go down to 25 knots. We are currently travelling towards Porto at around 15 knots. We hope to arrive in daylight tomorrow morning," said Melwin Fink.
We have to see if Pogo has the spare parts in stock" (Melwin Fink)
The mood on board the "Signforcom" is depressed. "We are extremely sad. But we're glad that we at least got the sail down. The boat is still quite untested," says Melwin Fink, describing his mood. The next steps are already planned: "We have to see if Pogo has the spare parts in stock. And we're talking to our boat builder to see if he can come to Porto. We'll know more when we get there."
The provisional end of the leg for Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink came at an inopportune time. "We were just having so much fun, the boat was going so well," said 21-year-old Melwin Fink, "we had recently experienced new top speeds of 26 knots." Whether and when the two co-skippers from the Next Generation Sailing Team will be able to take part in the Les Sables Horta race again was still unclear in the first few hours after the broken rudder.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
