Emma the Brave, safe and sound after mast ordeal

by Mary Ambler on 8 Nov 2002 British skipper Emma Richards has experienced a most terrifying, and potentially life-threatening, four and a half hour ascent of her 80-foot mast in order to replace the broken mainsail halyard, which has subsequently seen Pindar concede her second place to Solidaires in the current standings for Leg 2 of the Around Alone from Torbay, England to Cape Town, South Africa.

Emma courageously began her ascent at 8:30am GMT this morning in 10 knots of wind. By the time she was at the top of the mast, the wind had built up to 25 knots and the mast was swinging back and forth, 20 feet either way. Making the repair became a seemingly impossible task in these conditions. Emma, however, showed her true mettle by completing the repair successfully and after four and a half hours, set foot back on the deck of Pindar at 12:52 pm GMT.

Physically and mentally exhausted, Emma then still had to dig deep and somehow summon up enough energy to re-hoist her 165 square metre, 125kg mainsail to get her back into a competitive racing position. The position report at 2.00 pm GMT showed she has lost 40 miles to her nearest rival, French sailor Thierry Dubois on Solidaires. She was in second place, but is now in third by 13 miles.

Speaking from onboard Pindar at 1! 400hrs GMT this afternoon, Emma Richards commented: 'It was horrible, just horrible - the most terrifying experience of my life. I went up the mast with a fairly steady breeze of 10 knots, but by the time I'd reached the top, this has built to 25 knots, with the wind constantly shifting direction. The mast was swinging back and forth, as much as 20-feet either side. I was blown upside down in my climbing harness, back to front and thrown all over the place. I am bruised all over from being pounded against the mast - all up my arms, all along my ribs and my legs are totally battered. My head smashed against the mast a few times, so thank god I was wearing a crash helmet.

'I was so scared, it is definitely the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, let alone my sailing career. It was a total horror-show, however, I have now re-hoisted the main, which took every ounce of energy I had left and more, but it's done now. However I'm cold, hungry and incredibly ! tired. I'm very tearful and I can't stop shaking. I'm just thankful that I survived the ordeal and when I have managed to get my head around what's just happened I might be able to concentrate on racing again. I'm absolutely battered and bruised, but at least I'm safe and sound. Please tell my Mum and Dad that I'm ok.'

To follow Emma's progress in Around Alone visit www.pindar.com or the official race website www.aroundalone.com.

For all media enquiries on Emma Richards contact:
Henry Chappell or Victoria Fuller at Pitch PR
Tel: 020 7494 1616 / 07775 585 437 - e-mail: henry@pitchpr.co.uk

Positions at 1400hrs UTC 7th November 2002

Class 1
Boat, Time, Lat, Lon, DistRun, AvgBsp, AvgHeading, DTF (nm)

1 Bobst Group Armor-Lux, 31 45.600 S, 10 21.520 W, 92.36 nm, 11.57 kt, 1454.54 nm
2 Solidaires, 27 26.000 S, 14 48.440 W, 97.82 nm, 12.23 kt, 1770.20 nm
3 Pindar, 27 08.840 S, 14 52.760 W, 71.75 nm, 8.97 kt, 1783.21 nm
4 Hexagon, 25 40.840 S, 21 00.440 W, 78.12 nm, 9.78 kt, 2108.43 nm
5 Ocean Planet, 3 44.760 N, 23 48.480 W, 52.67 nm, 6.59 kt, 4324.72 nm
6 Tiscali, 43 27.320 N, 8 21.000 W, 0.00 nm, 0.00 kt, 6799.83 nm


Class 2
Boat, Time, Lat, Lon, DistRun, AvgBsp, AvgHeading, DTF (nm)

1 Tommy Hilfiger, 0 30.720 N, 27 20.320 W, 67.08 nm, 8.40 kt, 4037.72 nm
2 Spirit of Canada, 8 01.640 N, 24 50.640 W, 60.11 nm, 7.52 kt, 4504.84 nm
3 Everest Horizontal, 8 52.680 N, 24 01.280 W, 64.42 nm, 8.07 kt, 4570.88 nm
4 Spirit of yukoh, 8 40.310 N, 22 12.190 W, 20.70 nm, 2.58 kt, 4612.66 nm
5 Bayer Ascensia, 9 23.240 N, 22 56.160 W, 48.06 nm, 6.02 kt, 4626.86 nm
5 BTC Velocity, 9 26.080 N, 22 55.480 W, 46.71 nm, 5.84 kt, 4629.68 nm

DTF - Distance to finish DFL - Distance from leader