On the two leading boats, the obligatory Cape Horn cigars were lit in quick succession. To celebrate, to relieve and probably also because the wind and speed had dropped considerably compared to the previous twelve days. Meanwhile, Telefonica has caught up well and decided to only make a mini-stop in a bay on the Horn and not to call at Ushuaia to temporarily reinforce the damaged area on the hull. The plan is to meet a supply boat in a quiet bay to carry out the repairs. Skipper Iker Martinez believes that the rest of the leg will be difficult due to light winds and an area of high pressure and that there may still be opportunities to catch up and overtake. "You can still dream of good things, can't you?" If Groupama were to win, Telefonica would need a third place to retain the overall lead.
But the real heroes sail at the back. And these are currently Abu Dhabi, whose ship is falling apart with stupendous regularity. At the start of the leg, they had to return to Auckland to have a broken bulkhead re-glued. Then they set off in pursuit, perhaps hoping to overtake one or two ailing competitors. Instead, the hull on the port side began to delaminate, which somehow dampened the mood in the Southern Ocean, thousands of miles from the next harbour. But they didn't hesitate for long. Bowman Justin Slattery was lowered down the outside of the ship's side at a slightly slower speed to drill 30 holes so that the damaged area could be temporarily bolted together with stainless steel bolts. If you would like to copy this Video shows the most important steps.
The daring five-hour intervention has certainly paid off. For the time being. "Everything is better at the moment," said skipper Ian Walker. "Less noise and it seems pretty stable. We're in good shape." For the time being, it was not yet clear what would happen next. Meanwhile, Camper, the third casualty, is sailing on towards Chile to repair the broken bulkhead in the bow, while the fourth, Team Sanya, is piggybacking on the deck of a freighter on its way from New Zealand to the USA.
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