LIMERICK man, Team Delta Lloyd / Chieftain / Village Banking CEO and Volvo Ocean race entrant, Ger O’Rourke, reported better news from the realms of the Volvo Ocean Race and the carnage that was leg four of the epic round the world sailing marathon.
This Monday, Delta Lloyd, the 70ft first generation Open 70 yacht, left Taiwan on board a container ship on her way to Hong Kong.
It is the first stage of the long journey to Rio de Janeiro/Brazil and an outline plan of February 16 is marked for the Irish/Dutch VO70 to start the crossing to South-America. If everything goes according to plan, the racing yacht is scheduled to arrive in Rio on March 11 where two shore crews will be waiting for her to carry out all the necessary repairs required for the yacht to continue the race in leg six which will take the crews from Rio to Boston.
O’Rourke noted that Killian Bushe and his team will take care of the bow repairs. Bushe belongs to the world’s most recognized carbon boat builders. He was responsible for building the two ABN AMRO boats from the last campaign at Schaap Ship Care in Lelystad/ Netherlands.
Killian was also involved in building the VO60 Illbruck, the German winner of the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race. In 2006, he built the Swedish America’s Cup yacht ‘Victory Challenge’. In preparation for the current Volvo Ocean Race, he worked exclusively for Team Ericsson, but now has aligned himself with the Limerick boat.
“We are very pleased that Killian Bushe and his team will carry out the repairs. He knows the boat well and he is perfect for this”.
Looking further into the circumstances and the damage surrounding the forced withdrawal of Team Delta Lloyd from leg four, boat captain, David Pella and the crew, now believe that the boat may have collided with a submerged object in the water during the vicious seas that engulfed the fleet bound for China.
Further examinations are due but the initial reports would suggest that the bow area containing the bulkhead suffered some sort of structural damage.
Telefonica Black, who also suffered heavy damage during the leg, is also being shipped to Rio having withdrawn from the 12,000 nautical mile leg to Rio. The gun will be fired on this Saturday February 14 where four boats are confirmed to hit the start line.
The race is also on for Ericsson 3 to be ready for the leg five start as they suspended racing on 27 January when a section of bow forward of the watertight bulkhead was found flooded.
Later inspection revealed damage to the outer carbon-fibre skin and delamination of both inner and outer skins. There’s a round the clock crew working on the repair in Taiwan at present as the Nordic crew hope to complete the sail to Qingdao in time for leg five race to Rio.
