'We talked about stopping' - Boat damage incident cause havoc at The Ocean Race as teams struggle with repairs

The third leg of The Ocean Race has been a bruising one — not necessarily for the crews but for the actual boats with several incidents of damage and the need for repairs being reported over the last few weeks. The teams passed through the scoring gate on Sunday, with Team Holcim-PRB collecting maximum points with Team Malizia in second and 11th Hour Racing Team third, while Biotherm came through fourth.

Ad However, as the boats maintain their course to the finish line in Itajai, Brazil, the task to keep their vessel in ship-shape is a challenging one. The Ocean Race‘Some of the closest offshore racing I have ever done!’ – Harris ‘relieved’ after scoring gateYESTERDAY AT 14:59 On Monday, 11th Hour Racing Team revealed they had to contend with a badly torn mainsail, which was hindering their progress.

«We can't use the full main or the first reef because of the rip,» said Jack Bouttell. «It's quite hard to repair on board, nearly impossible I think, because of where it is in a structural part of the sail.» Skipper Charlie Enright was slightly more positive and said the team would make the effort to complete the repair and continue racing.

«We did just stop and take a look at the yacht and assess and we made the decision as a group to get the boat to Brazil for some TLC as we have a number of things hampering our performance at the moment,” he said. »We talked about stopping, whether in New Zealand or Tasmania, but ultimately decided that we feel safe in proceeding.

Given the weather ahead of us there will be some (competitive) opportunities but we're really racing ourselves right now. We'll see what the future brings..." ‘Some of the closest offshore racing I have ever done!’ – Harris ‘relieved’ after scoring gate 11th