19.01.2006
From: BRASIL 1 LEG TWO DAY 18
To: DUTY OFFICER Sent: 19 January 2006 17:34
Knut Frostad: Mastbruch - LIFE IS TOO SHORT
The famous four words from our "Presidentsch" onboard, Marcello
(Ferreira), could not have been more appropriate. Life is really too short
to be stuck out here on a racing boat without a mast, about one week from
shore. Being without a mast it is like cutting the wings off a bird, you
just can't fly however hard you try. It is heartbreaking, and we are
seriously heartbroken. Every single one of us. We did not deserve this.
Talking about birds. I have never in my life seen an albatross landing on
the water. They always seem to be in the air. However, right in the middle
of the crisis while we where working hard to salvage the rig, three
albatrosses landed right by the boat, and swam around us for a long time.
I suddenly remembered some old books about seamen adrift on a raft having
their eyes eaten out by hungry albatrosses.
I am just back inside after my two hours watch with Andy (Meiklejohn).
We're only two on deck now, and everyone gets plenty of sleep. The
atmosphere onboard is quiet. Sometimes we have our moments of fun and
laughter, but especially at night, it's a quietness and very strong
feeling of sadness and despair onboard. Why did this happen? Why did the
turnbuckle fail? Why now? Why step on someone who is already down?
It feels like ever since we had to return to South Africa for the deck
repair, we have been fighting with a knife against an enemy who had a gun
pointing at our head, and now he decided to fire. We managed to build so
much hope and dug so deep for the last motivation after repairing the
boat. We were going to finish this leg whatever happened and we where
going to do it with pride and give any chance of getting back the miles
lost, our best shot. And then, bang! Something completely beyond our
control cuts our wings of, and we are left with no hope of scoring any
more points on this leg. Now our only hope is to make it in time for the
inshore race in Melbourne.
So what happened about 36 hours ago? I was in my bunk as Chuny's (Roberto
Bermudez) watch was on deck. It's blowing about 18 knots and we have
smooth conditions. Masthead gennaker, full index, max. canted keel, and the
boat surfing at 20 knots speed. Suddenly a big bang! After that a few very
long and quiet seconds, and then the sickening sound of breaking carbon.
Some guys scream, in seconds we are out of our bunks down below and get
our heads out through the hatch, to see the whole rig over the side. In
fact it broke into three pieces. A six meter mast is still left standing
up, then the middle piece was laying along the cockpit and out over the
stern, and the final top of the mast swinging around in the waves behind
the boat. We were lucky no one got injured.
After everyone got their gear on, we started working. But where to start?
It was all just a big mess. Then add to that the mast piece in the water
banging against the stern. The biggest danger when a mast breaks is to
have it crashing into the hull and making a hole as the boat lifts up and
down in the waves. We discussed all our options, while some already
started to pull whatever they could back onboard. Constantly you could
hear the question: "What happened?" Stu (Wilson) saw the port shroud just
taking off from the deck. It looks like the port turnbuckle holding the
shroud had failed. Why now?
The first thing to do was to avoid more damage. At the same time we knew
we could absolutely not afford to loose the sails. We need every one of
them for the reindexing part of the race, so loosing a indexsail is a
catastrophe. The waves were big, but the winds seemed to ease off, so we
could allow to stress down a bit and go into a step-by-step process. Some
worked on cutting the middle piece off and got it down on deck, and some
on recovering what was in the water. Andrea Fonseca, our brave swimmer
onboard got the wetsuit and diving gear on, dived into the cold water and
managed to cut the top of the indexsail from the mast head which had
already started to sink.
He ran out of oxygen after the first dive, but kept working on also saving
the pieces of the gennaker under water. We managed to save the indexsail in
one piece. A great relief. Next step was to try to save the last piece of
the mast. The top twelve meters was still hanging behind the boat, and had
by now started sinking with the top pointing straight down. We rigged
halyards from the short piece still intact standing up and managed to
slowly hoist the top piece back onboard, meter by meter. Obviously we had
to cut away spreaders and fittings as it came up on deck.
It was absolutely critical to have the battery driven angle grinder
onboard. Andy had it running non stop. Finally we had everything onboard.
I am proud to say that we haven't left a single piece in the ocean after
us, with the only exception of the masthead wand (wind instrument) which
we couldn't recover. Too many solve problems at sea by dumping them.
Soon after we started to rig a jury rig, a process which is still ongoing.
We all react differently. Some get very quiet, some talk a lot. Some get
hyper active, and can't stop climbing in the little mast we have, trying
to rig more blocks, more halyards. I too have some problems with coping
with the whole thing, and can't stop trying new sail combinations on deck.
Others seem to relax a bit more.
We have rigged the trysail from the mast, but with clew in the top. In the
front we have now ended up with the storm jib on the spinnaker pole,
brased out with all kinds of trimming features. A indexsail batten rolled
into the top of the sail, enables us to shorten it and trim it better.
At the moment we are doing a steady 9 knots, in about 30-35 knots of wind.
We have one steering wheel and most electronics are still working, except
the wind instruments of course, and the big satcom antenna, which got hit
by the mast. We have to sail as much as we can. We only have fuel for
about 36 hours of motoring at 7 knots. We were 1400 Nm from land when the
mast came down.
Seven days minimum to go before we hit shore somewhere in Western
Australia. Patience was never my strength and now it's going to be tested.
The guys are playing a game in the galley. Each has three short pieces of
rope. You say a number, hide some pieces in the hand and count them in the
end. Food doesn't taste any better than before. It's all just really,
really sad and boring.
The good news is that the whole crew is in good shape, and despite what we
have been through, we have some energy reserves left. I f you dig deep
enough there is always more than you imagine, and we are determined to get
ready for the inshore race in Melbourne. We don't know how yet, but we
will figure it out. Torben is definitely keeping his head up and knowing
so well the friendship and team spirit we all share onboard Brasil 1, I
just know it..: We will be back!
From a heartbroken, but not beaten Brasil 1.
Knut Frostad
For media information on the Volvo Ocean Race, please contact:
Lizzie Green Press Officer at race headquarters:
Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Sophie Luther Press Assistant at race headquarters
Mob: +44 7956 285548 email: sophie.luther@volvooceanrace.org
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