Breakage ends Spindrift record
Damage to the starboard rudder stock forced the crew of the maxi trimaran
Spindrift 2 to abandon their third attempt to break the non-stop round the world record in early February.
Yann Guichard and his 11 crew were storming across the Indian Ocean in ‘very strong winds’ and were just past the remote Kerguelen Islands on 1 February when helmsman Thierry Chabagny reported that the steering was heavy. At the time the 130ft trimaran was on port gybe and heading eastnorth-east under gennaker.
The crew checked the steering gear but it was not until first light they were able to see that the rudder stock was broken between the upper and lower sets of bearings.
It would have been too dangerous to continue racing across the Southern Ocean and it was immediately clear to Guichard that he would have to nurse the boat to get it safely to a downwind port. The crew made Fremantle, where the trimaran was lifted out.
“We were lucky not to have lost the rudder as that could have ripped out the bottom of the hull,” comments Guichard.
This was the team’s third attempt after finishing just outside the record in 2016, dismasting while sailing out to the Ushant start line in 2018, and all the more disappointing because the crew was inside the record time at the time.
“At least we showed we could go fast as we have the record
[to] the Equator,” said Guichard. “The combination of a smaller mast and new foils meant that the hull float is less in the water so, with less drag, we go faster. The changes we made to the deck roof were also really good, and protected us from the wind and cold. We went to almost 55°S, with water at 2°C – a slalom amongst the ice.”
He added that the trimaran will be shipped back to the team’s base in France, where a new rudder will be built.