Trailing at the back of the fleet and unable to can their keel to aid sailing performance, Team Delta Lloyd, the Volvo Open 70 yacht campaigned by Limerick Man Ger O’Rourke, was dealt a cruel blow today when crashing off the top of a big wave at sea there was a huge bang and the subsequent damage revealed broken hydraulic arm in the inner guts of the boat.
The arm controls the swing of the keel while the boat sails into the wind. Having consulted the boat designers and explored all necessary safety measures, the crew feels and shore team are confident that they can continue to their passage to the Straits of Malacca and hopefully on to Singapore.
Limerick man and ship’s engineer Edwin O’Connor is heading up the repair and monitoring of the situation onboard the boat.
Here’s the latest email from the from the boat and check in for regular updates.
DELTA LLOYD – Matthew Gregory (Navigator)
At 7:30 this evening we were sailing upwind in 20 knots of wind, pounding away in a short steep sea state with our J1 headsail and a reef in the main. All of a sudden there was a massive breaking sound from inside the boat. One of the hydraulic rams, that cants the keel from side to side, ripped off of the bulkhead that connects it to the boat.
Immediately we put our safety plan into place. Unsure of the extent of the structural damage and integrity of the boat, everyone moved to their areas. We took down our headsail. The water pumps were deployed and put on standby. Survival suits and grab bags were pulled from the safety locker in case we were sinking and needed to abandon the boat. I called the race office to tell them our position and to be on standby in case we needed assistance from another boat. I also worked on finding ports that we could take refuge. The closest ones were 400 miles away. Mean while the guys on deck limped the boat along at 3 knots.
The next phone calls were to the designer, to help us assess the implications of the structural failure. He helped us determine that we could continue to sail, with our keel locked in the center position by using the starboard side hydraulic ram.
Right now we are sailing with our little J4 headsail and a reef in the main towards the northern tip of Indonesia, which also happens to be the location of the scoring gate. Using the sails to heel the boat helps to reduce the slamming loads on the hull. We are making decent headway at about 9 knots of boat speed. Over the next 2 days we will work with our shore team to figure out how we are going to get to Singapore.
It was a very scary moment onboard, but it was great to see the entire team handle the emergency in a calm and professional way. We are fortunate to be able to continue east towards Singapore. However, every wave that we crash into is a bit more worrisome than normal. Hopefully we can get the boat safely to the Malacca Straights in one piece. For now we are happy to be safe, which is always our first priority.
