Another horror leg for Sweden's Team SEB in Volvo Ocean race

by Rob Kothe on 8 Feb 2002 Team Seb Skipper Gunnar Krantz reported by sat phone last night that their Volvo 60 had been sailing through a snow storm during the night in around 28 knots of breeze when a gust sent them into a Chinese gybe. During the violent Chinese, the carbon mast, carbon boom and carbon spinnaker pole broke.

At the time SEB was still 1,250 miles short of Cape Horn. All the crew are safe, but clearly shattered by the dismasting. This has been a horror southern ocean voyage for Team Seb, after losing the rudder during the Sydney to Hobart portion of leg 3.

With the mast cut away and one spinnaker pole broken, the crew have set a jury rig using their spare spinnaker pole. While the rig was cut away just above the boom, the broken boom and spinnaker pole have been saved and will be used to enlarge the jury rig.

Krantz explained earlier they would wait until dawn (around 3am local time) before starting the engine, as they wanted to check for any ropes caught round the prop in the wild gybe.

SEB will head for the sheltered Argentinean port of Ushuaia, on the Atlantic shoreline half a day north of Cape Horn. A spare mast will be flown from Sweden and will be refitted there.