VOR Breaking
News from onboard the Chinese DongFeng Team in the Volvo Ocean Race:
At 2:10UTC, Thomas was driving when we hit something. The impact was violent. We did not know what we hit. We check the windward runner, we started to check the keel, and we wiped out. Then we realised the leeward rudder was gone. We checked if there was any water ingress in the boat.
At 2:20 UTC, we gybed.
We had two options: installing the emergency rudder, as an emergency rudder, or removing what was left from the old rudder, and putting the new one in place. We decided to go for the second option.
We prepared the rudder, we furled the A3, with dropped the A3 down, we dropped the mainsail down. At this moment, we saw ADOR passing next to us…
Thomas put the diving suit on. He jumped into the water. Kevin was in the aft compartment, and the rest of the crew on deck.
We removed what was left from the old rudder (not much), and we put the new one in place. We hoisted the main, we hoisted the A3, we jibed, and we unfurled the A3. Check the video here.
We are now sailing 20 knts. More here.
