Volvo Ocean Race – Team Brunel damaged

by Team Brunel - Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 1 Apr 2015 Volvo Ocean Race – On Monday afternoon, Team Brunel rounded the infamous Cape Horn, with MAPFRE in their wake. A few hours later, Bouwe Bekking and his crew were forced to slow down, when their J1 headsail became damaged. Now that Team Brunel could no longer enjoy the advantage of the largest jib, the Spanish boat skippered by Iker Martínez was able to overtake the Dutch team.

The Team Brunel sailors are currently working hard to try to repair the damaged headsail. 'I'm not yet sure whether the sail is repairable,' says Team Brunel director and three-time Whitbread Round the World Cup Race sailor Gideon Messink. 'After the J1 jib got damaged the team was forced to sail upwind with the smaller J2 jib, which is why we're slightly slower than the rest of the fleet.'

Team Brunel had already lost a number of miles in the night before rounding Cape Horn, when the navigation screens suddenly failed. 'Due to moisture problems, all navigational instruments in the mast and cabin were wiped out,' continues Gideon Messink. 'Jens Dolmer got all the screens working again after drying off the computer which controls the instruments.'

Team Brunel is now in fourth place in the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Dutch team still has more than 1,600 miles to go, to the Brazilian port of Itajaí, where the leading boats will pass the finish line on 5 April.