No news yet as to whether Alex has completed his repair, has allowed it to cure and can get moving again. He has been very calm about the damage and repair, just getting on with it and having to accept the loss of miles. His position is currently 5th, nearly 300 miles behind the leader, making 5 1/2 knots. It's frustrating for him, but in the previous race the leader had a much better margin over Alex as they rounded Cape Horn and Alex closed right up and nearly won, despite a broken foil.
Alex was well prepared and carried the materials he needed to effect the repair. On a modern GRP or carbon boat, it makes sense to have some resin and mat aboard and teams can spend days discussing what to carry “just in case” as in the Vendee, like the Golden Globe, outside assistance means disqualification. Run your eyes along a boat inside and out and then consider what might break and have to be repaired. The list can become endless and there has to be a limit or the boat would be overloaded.
When my main boom gooseneck broke, it took two days of drilling, with a hand drill, to make a 1 inch diameter hole in 1 inch thick mild steel to make a repair. Another two days were spent tacking a strip of copper, which just happened to be aboard, along the Garboard seam, the gap between the lowest hull strake and the keel, on both sides to stop 200 gallons of water coming in every day.
Deep breath, duck under 5 feet, put a tack in, come back up and repeat the process. The alternative was to pull out which was not an option. This task was interrupted by a curious shark swimming round to investigate a potential food source. He paid for this curiosity! Then of course there are sail repairs, these days special sticky tape is used for a lot of tears, but 50 years ago it was sewing with a palm and needle.
Ocean racing is not just sitting around steering or trimming sails, it's knowing how to keep the boat functioning as there are no shops in mid ocean.
The lead has changed. Apivia, sailed by Charlie Dalin, has taken over the top spot from Linked Out by 18 miles, as they try to escape the effects of the South Atlantic, or St Helena High Pressure system. Samantha Davis still holds 10th position.
Hopefully tomorrow we will be seeing Alex back up to full speed and starting to reel the leaders in.