Golden Globe Race: one of the participating yachts capsized and lost its mast

Golden Globe Race non-stop single round-the-world sailor Are Wig told the race committee that his 32-foot OE32 yacht Olleanna had flipped 360 degrees and lost her mast about 400 miles southwest of Cape Town. At the time of the accident, the 58-year-old yacht surveyor from Svelvik, Norway, was sailing fourth in the circumnavigation.

OlLeanna overturned, but the boat had enough recovering momentum to return to normal position.

Are Vig put the yacht adrift in stormy conditions with 35-40 knots of wind and 7-8m waves. He went down to the salon to fix the stopper that connects the wind wing to the rudder auxiliary baller, which is when everything happened. During the coup, one of the cabin portholes broke and the mast broke. Are Vig was dragged across the cabin to the entrance. Fortunately the yachtsman got only bruises and cuts that didn't prevent him from quickly assessing the situation. The Norwegian cut the standing rigging to prevent the broken mast from damaging the hull, and left the wreck with the sails to hang on the forefoot as a floating anchor.

The yacht's rollover was preceded by a breakdown of the windward auto-helm. Since early morning Are Vig manually steered the yacht. The Norwegian had been steering non-stop for over ten hours when he finally decided to put the yacht adrift to try to repair the auto-helm.

According to GGR's chairman, Don McIntyre, who took Are Wiig's emergency call, it's a mess down below, but the yachtsman is confident in his abilities and in control of the situation.

«He plans to tidy up the boat and then develop a plan for his next move. He has everything he needs on board to set the storm sail. Are confirmed that he did not activate the emergency beacon or request outside assistance. All his rescue equipment was in good order, and his satellite communication and power system were in good working order».

John Amtrup, Are Vig's crew chief, reported that the porthole just above the navigation table broke and a lot of water was spilled over the electronics. But the batteries are probably fine.

There's food and oil everywhere below deck," Amptrap reported. - Are thinks it was blowing 35 knots at the time of capsize, which he doesn't think is much considering he's been sailing in stormy conditions for the past three days. Ironically, Are had just finished reading the book «The voyage of madmen» and in it, not a single boat that went adrift had capsized. For Are the race is over, he's not going to be installing a new mast anytime soon».

Are Vig's immediate plans are to fix the porthole and install temporary sailing equipment. He will then proceed cautiously to Cape Town. The Race Committee has alerted the rest of the GGR fleet to the situation and also notified the rescue services in Cape Town.

Of the 17 participants in the Golden Globe Race, 11 remained in formation. Of these, only one - DutchmanJean-Luc van den Heede on his Rustler 36 Matmut - rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Among the last eliminations were the Frenchmen Antoine Cousot and Philippe Péché, who had to make a pit stop to fix the autosteer.

Russian Igor Zaretsky continues his participation in GGR, he is 8th now.