Sprint to repair Translated 9 for OGR Leg 4
The situation could not have looked brighter for skipper Simon Curwen and his crew aboard the Swan 65 Translated 9 on Leg 3 of the Ocean Globe Race, writes Barry Pickthall.
Only 12 miles separated the Italian yacht from Marie Tabarly’s pacesetting French maxi Pen Duick VI as they rounded Cape Horn. With the worst now seemingly behind them, it looked certain that Translated 9 would extend her three-day lead on IRC handicap during the final 1,000 miles north to Punta del Este, the third stop-over port, and hold on to first position in the race.
But two days later, when north of the Falklands, the crew uncovered cracks in Translated 9’s glass fibre hull. At the time, water ingress was not of major concern. The worry was whether the 18-inch main crack running up the yacht’s centreline, close to the rudder post, would elongate and lead to something more catastrophic.
Marco Trombetti, Translated 9’s owner, had every intention of continuing racing, but after sending a video of the damage to race control, the advice was to head back to the Falklands, leading to retirement from Leg 3 and giving up any chance of winning the OGR.
Undaunted, what followed was a military operation to get the yacht repaired in time to compete on the last leg back to the UK. Paul Cayard, a former Whitbread Race winner and mentor to the campaign, worked the phones to get boatbuilders out to the Falklands. One of those calls was to boat builder Kit Rogers in Lymington.
Could he get two experienced hands on an RAF flight that night? Stuart Barrett and Rich Pilcher volunteered but too late for the flight. Efforts looked doomed until a second flight was offered the following day.
By the time they arrived, Translated 9 had been lifted out, and work had commenced to repair the outer skin. Stuart and Rich set to work on the inner surface while a private jet flew in a keg of resin. Working long hours, the two laid 35 layers of glass reinforcing and added three extra stiffeners to reinforce the stern sections in time to relaunch and set sail for Punta del Este.
But the drama didn’t end there. The boat’s gearbox failed before their arrival. A spare was sourced in Italy, together with a mechanic who flew out with the 70kg replacement in his bag just in time for Translated 9 to make the final leg start on March 6.
There was more drama at the start of Leg 4, where the Finnish Swan 651 Spirit of Helsinki was first over the line. The French Swan 65 Evrika collided with South African Swan 53 Sterna in rough conditions, damaging Evrika’s bowsprit, and Australian Swan 57 Explorer hit a heavy steel channel buoy. Just 17 minutes later, Pen Duick VI set off a man-overboard alert. Mercifully her crew recovered their man safely within 6 minutes.
The leaders are due to finish off Cowes on the 9-10th April. Follow the live tracker on https://oceangloberace .com/livetracker/