Boris Herrmann’s crew has repaired the crack in the 28 meter high mast of the high-tech yacht Malizia-Seaexplorer and can continue taking part in the king’s stage of the Ocean Race.
As the Hamburg-based team announced, the area around the approximately 30 centimeter long damage first had to be sanded down before two carbon patches could be applied.
“It was great teamwork,” said Herrmann afterwards: “Now we can only keep our fingers crossed and hope that it lasts”.
Herrmann gave his crew member Will Harris “a lot of respect” because “it takes a lot of courage to work up there on the mast for so many hours when we have ten-foot waves.”
Herrmann had previously said that a return to Cape Town had been considered: “That would have been the easier way, but we are all now convinced that we should continue.”
At 12,750 nautical miles, the third of the seven stages with the destination Itajai/Brazil is the longest stretch in the 50-year history of the regatta.
The route takes Herrmann and Co. for about a month through the Southern Ocean along the ice border past the three famous Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and Hoorn. Extreme weather conditions are expected.