Crack and you're over

Gunnar Krantz reflects on the loss of SEB's rudder that put them out of leg three

Simultaneously with all this we had a team that shifted all the sails up on the bow to get the stern out of the water. Magnus was rigging the emergency pump system and we were also bailing with buckets.

The most difficult thing was to estimate the damage while all the emergency work was being done. The hole was plugged, still leaking badly, but what did it actually look like? We started with sealing the whole and continued to bail out the boat. The big ballast pumps were going at full capacity. Slowly we got the situation under control and started thinking where do we go from here?

We sat there with a damaged rudder, a bottom bearing ripped out of the hull and totally wasted quadrant. The emergency rudder system was put together by Glen [Kessels] and then installed. We had steering again but for doing what? Continue or not? What was the weather going to be? Where are the best facilities for repairs? How late can we arrive in Auckland and still have a good preparation for leg 4? How fast can we sail with the emergency rudder? What secondary damages do we have? Can we install this rudder again? Is it safe to sail to Hobart with the emergency system and from Hobart to Auckland with a repair that will not be 100%?

The best sort of bailer...a frightened man with a bucket. Note the improvised rig - bucket, T-shirt, floorboard - all braced down to contain the leak.