24.11.2006, 18:50GMT
CRUEL BLOW TO ECOVER AND GOLDING AFTER HEROIC RESCUE OF THOMSON
Mike Golding's ECOVER was dealt a cruel, punishing body blow just hours after he had completed the difficult rescue of fellow Velux 5 Oceans competitor Alex Thomson, when the mast of his Open 60 broke in two places.
The incident was reported at 11.50 GMT this morning, less than six hours after Golding had taken Thomson off his stricken yacht HUGO BOSS, which he was forced to abandon to due to a severe keel failure.
Since the alarm was raised on Thursday morning, Mike had sailed more than 80 miles back upwind in big seas and strong winds before plucking Thomson from his life raft. After reaching Alex yesterday evening after nightfall, the pair spent a nervous night waiting for daylight, planning and discussing the execution of Thomson's evacuation from HUGO BOSS. The operation took the best part of two hours. Hampered by engine failure which made manoeuvring the Open 60 ECOVER in close proximity to HUGO BOSS extremely hazardous, in the bucking 15 foot swell, Golding and Thomson required four attempts before the stricken skipper had to cast his life raft adrift from his yacht to be plucked to safety by Golding.
The failure of ECOVER´s mast occurred when the boat was hit by a 40 knot squall while both skippers were still recovering from their respective ordeals below decks.
Golding said: "It was slightly odd the way it happened but since then we have both come to the conclusion here that it was probably damage that was already there. Yes, it was a squall. Yes, we were going fairly fast, but we were not pushing. We were drinking coffee, catching up and generally recovering from the ordeal we had both been through. We had not invested a great deal of energy in making the boat go fast."
He continued: "We were going along downwind with the wind at 135 to 140 degrees true wind angle, just white sails one reef in the index and the Code Eco (a big all purpose headsail) and a squall came in. We dialled down and the boat started to round up a little. I eased the vang (to de-power the indexsail) but it was already soft. I went for the indexsheet and just then I looked up only to see it explode just above the index spreaders."
There are two breaks in the mast, one about a metre and a half above the third reef and the other is on the first reef, however it is not know which happened first. Thomson and Golding have been busy tidying up the boat, with Thomson climbing up the mast to get the two parts that have broken.
"This just doesn't seem terribly fair after what has happened in the last day and what we have both been through," said Golding. "It is rubbish for me and rubbish for Alex. The last thing Alex wanted to do was get plunged into the middle of another problem, and it is clearly rubbish for me, but it is one of the things that can happen when you are engaged in racing like this. We are fortunate that we have been left with the tools to continue sailing and make some choices about where we are going."
Thomson gave his own account of the incident: "I was down below when it happened. It was a fairly windy gust but nothing massive and the boat didn't broach. It was probably the easiest sailing we had done all week. It is just one of those things - highly unfair considering what Mike has been through to come and pick me up. It is unbelievable, totally unbelievable."
"It is definitely helpful to have each other - it's very difficult to cope with a mast breakage on your own. I think Mike is glad I am here because otherwise he'd have to go up the mast! I feel very sorry for Mike though obviously it's not ideal for me either to go from one disaster to another. We've just got to get this mast down now and get under easy sail tonight and get some rest. We will get the index sorted tomorrow and then it is up to Mike to decide where he needs to go and I will be here to support him. I think everyone must be in disbelief after this. Hopefully we can all learn something from it."
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Annabel Merrison - Pitch PR
T: +44 (0)20 7494 1616
M: +44 (0)7721 518 411
E: annabel@pitchpr.com
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