Earthrace repairs to Singapore

by Rob Kothe on 7 Jun 2008 When the 78 foot bio-diesel fuel trimaran reached Singapore yesterday, she was two thirds of the way round the world and an amazing 2,900 nautical miles ahead of the pace needed to set a new Round the World powerboat record.

On April 27th, 39 days ago, Earthrace left Sagunto, north of Valencia in Spain on a 24,000 round the world record attempt. She soon proved to have more than enough speed, with her two 540 hp Cummins diesel engines propelling her at speeds of 24 knots for long periods, she only had some minor problems before reaching the Azores and she began to speed ahead of the 1998 World record, set by Britain’s Cable & Wireless team of 74 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes.

Earthrace had to wait for bio-fuel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She had delays at both ends of the Panama Canal but then had a smooth leg up to Mexico, onto San Diego and across to Hawaii, then a high pressure fuel line burst and she had just one engine for most of the passage to the Marshall Islands.

Soon after she left Palau, 800 miles east of the Philippines last weekend, Earthrace hit a submerged object snapping blades off her port propeller and bending her port drive shaft.

As repairs were not possible in that remote Micronesian Island, New Zealand skipper Bethune decided to head 2.200 miles to the next stop-over point Singapore for repairs, on just one engine. There were heart stopping moments on this leg as Earthrace hit even more logs and branches in the water but she had still managed to extend her lead over the record pace.

Now the crew has to repair or replace the damaged drive shaft and make any needed composite repairs to the hull and the P bracket that attaches the shaft to the hull.

Scott Fratcher, from Yachtwork.com who was key part of the 2007 Earthrace attempt, said ‘this will be a big weekend. The Earthrace crew plan to lift the boat from the water in the next few hours for inspection and repair. They believe they can launch Monday and they plan to refuel and depart for Cochin, late on Monday. It's an aggressive plan, but depending on what they find on the haul they could be back in the race as quick as then.

‘Considering the ground team arrived in Singapore with next to no money this is an amazing turn of events and shows the commitment of the complete team to recover from a serious set back. The team still have a lot of work to do for the plan to be a success, but at the moment it looks feasible.‘

The crew have relied on the generosity of a number of companies that have stepped forward to offer Earthrace support for speedy repairs upon arrival to Singapore.

'We are delighted to welcome Earthrace back to ONE°15 Marina Club,' said Mr Arthur Tay, Chairman of the ONE°15 Marina Club. 'Her return to Singapore marks the relentless pursuit and perseverance of sSkipper Pete Bethune and his crew in their attempt to break the world record for a worthy cause.'

'We’re hugely grateful to all the companies that have helped us out here and saved the world record attempt,' said Pete Bethune. 'The Earthrace project wouldn’t have been possible without all of the fantastic support we’ve received along the way, and this has been more critical in the past few days... more than ever. Our hearts sank when we saw the extent of the damage to the boat in Palau, but with continuing support from sponsors, we’re confident we can continue on the last few legs of our journey and smash the record.'

Powerboat-world will be providing details of the damage and repairs with pictures over the next 24 hours.

The next stops for Earthrace are Kochi/Cochin (India) – Salalah (Oman) – Port Said (Suez Canal, Egypt) – Sagunto (Spain).