The Hatch

Putting safety first

13 March 2008

The failure of another rigging fitting, this time on Durban 2010 and Beyond and again fortunately without any injuries, confirms the decision we took after westernaustralia2011.com lost her mast to replace all these fittings once the boats reach Hawaii. However, with a second failure we decided we could not risk allowing the yachts to continue racing and so stopped the race at 0600 GMT this morning (Thursday 13 March) and points will be awarded on the basis of their positions at that time from the finish line.

It’s a nuisance and a disappointment, but there really was no alternative. We cannot afford to have another failure as a safety matter. Instructions have been issued to the boats to proceed with caution, that means with reduced sail, which reduces the pressure on the rig, and to provide preventers on each side of the mast using the masthead halyards, for the rest of the voyage to Hawaii.

Two of the fleet have been told to rendezvous with Durban 2010 and Beyond and escort her to the finish as she will not have sufficient fuel to motor all the way and these boats can supplement her fuel tanks, or provide a tow if that becomes necessary.

All the rigs were inspected when the boats were in Durban and given a clean bill of health. We cannot be certain yet of the exact cause of this failure, except that it is in a rigging fitting and not in the rigging wire itself and has occurred since the Durban inspection.  The conclusion however must be that these fittings are suffering from fatigue, something that is not usual, and unless we can source a more substantial fitting long term, we shall have to accept that these particular units will have to be replaced at a much shorter interval than was anticipated.

Work started on finding a replacement mast the moment we learned of Durban 2010 and Beyond’s accident. I am pleased to be able to report that we have found suitable new mast sections and the focus of our attention is now on getting these prepared and flown to Hawaii as speedily as possible.

There are other issues we must consider, such as whether to hold the whole fleet until the two masts are repaired, but we can deal with that when we have a better idea of delivery dates. Knowing that people have travel plans we will make a decision, and inform everyone, as soon as we can. Any delay would likely be short however and recoverable.

For those who have been suggesting that this failure would mean the deduction of race points I am afraid you are in for a disappointment.  Race points are deducted from boats for repairs to the working items, like sails, or where the damage is caused by crew actions. They are designed to encourage good seamanship and care for equipment. Rigging failures like this do not come into this category.

I would like to congratulate Ricky Chalmers and the Durban crew for the professional manner with which they have coped with a very unpleasant situation and kept us fully informed. The skippers and crews of both Durban 2010 and Beyond and westernaustralia2011.com have behaved in an exemplary manner. Also a big well done to the shore team, Joff (Bailey, Race Director), Jeremy (Knight, Financial Director), the maintenance team, crew liason and communications teams, for the way they have, and continued, to react.

As we have news we will pass it on.

RKJ