Mid-atlantic injury

An update from the HSH Nordbank blue transatlantic race and a report from on board Chieftain

The yacht HSH Nordbank probably has to retire from the HSH Nordbank blue transatlantic race, as the broken ankle of crew member Kerstin Troeger needs surgical attention as soon as possible. The crew is heading for St. John/Newfoundland.

It wasn't an easy decision for the crew, but the eight sailors on board the Luffe 48 agreed on this course of action after only a short discussion. "The broken ankle of Kerstin Troeger has to be operated as soon as possible. We are heading for the next harbour", was the statement from on board on Friday morning.

The 41 year old sailor from Hamburg had suffered the injury already on Tuesday, when a big wave threw her across the cockpit. After extensive medical advice was taken, it was clear, that the foot had to be operated within eight to ten days; otherwise the damage could be lasting. The health of all crew members has definite priority to all racing ambitions, so the crew is altering its course.

After the medical diagnosis the race committee immediately informed all rescue stations (MRCC Bremen, JRCC Norfolk und JRCC Halifax) and putting them on standby. In addition the weather specialists Meeno Schrader and Bill Biewenga have been asked to give advice on alternative routing. Skipper Martin Friedrichs (45, from Kiel/Germany) finally decided, after studying all the options and after another medical talk, to head for St. Johns/Newfoundland. The Harbour is about 450 miles away and could approximately be reached in two and a half days. In St. Johns, Troeger will be be taken to hospital.

HSH Nordbank wants to continue the trip as soon as possible after dropping her off. Whether the yacht can still sail competitively still has to be seen. The jury has been contacted by the Race Committee and under certain circumstances they may be allowed to continue according to the Jury.

HSH Nordbank sails for the Kiel and Flensburg Yacht Clubs in Germany and is supported by the title sponsor of the HSH Nordbank blue race. Kerstin Troeger is an employee of the bank and was selected among many colleagues to sail onboard the yacht. The experienced sailor was very much looking forward to the race and the accident is painful for her now in more than one way. But according to the situation she is doing well. Her foot has been stabilised and the crew has enough painkillers on board.

"It is very hard, not to end the race, but it was the right decision", says Troeger.

"We regret the injury of our colleague and whish her to feel better soon", says Hans Berger, chairman of the board of the HSH Nordbank. "The health of the crew and the security of the ship have the highest priority".

The rest of the fleet is in progress of rounding Point Alpha, with Outsider and Chieftain screaming along far in front. On Saturday the second starting group will begin their hunt.

Ed Hill writes from on board Chieftain :

Day 3

It seems ages since my last report and things have changed dramatically. We spent a whole day flying along, covering a huge amount of miles. It was quite strange at first, - you felt on the edge when the boat speed went over 20 knots - yet 2 hours later the boat seemed slow if we were not hitting over 20 knots boat speed.

To give some idea of how the boat feels under speed, it sails like an oversized surf board and feels like your one hanging legged onto a tube train which keeps on taking corners too fast and then breaking suddenly. Add into that night sailing when the sprays in your face and you can’t see a thing - it makes for interesting times! Sleep also becomes an issue as it’s horrendously noisy downstairs, with the hydraulic winches and waves banging against the side.

Day 4

Yesterday proved by far our hardest day. We started the day in good form, hitting around 18 - 22 knots of boat speed as we were changing over watches at 6am.

Suddenly we hit something very hard, boat speed crashed to 2 knots and we stopped dead in the water. Everyone was slammed forward and we were concerned at first that we may have lost our rudder as there was no feeling in the helm. Unfortunately the kite, which was flapping, ripped as we blew it, adding to our woes. This was just at 6am. As we backed the boat up and recovered the kite a completely mangled sunfish appeared, an absolutely huge one which had been completely crushed against the rudder. After testing the rudder we continued on.

We ended up sailing on with Stu Molloy and myself repairing the kite, which was ripped from the clew to the bottom half of the sail, as best we could. This consisted of getting smashed around in the boat while getting high on acetone trying to remove all the water off the sail and stick it back together without a sewing machine.

The breeze was a fairly steady 25 knots, but occasionally huge squalls would come through which made sailing with the kite up hard work. As I was sleeping downstairs at around 4pm a huge squall of about 40 knots came through, lifting us and resulting in a massive Chinese gybe. The boat lay flat on its side in the middle of the Atlantic and our running kite was completely destroyed, the head and both tapes were ripped off. Two kites down and not looking so happy!

It was pretty disappointing as we’d been pushing the boat really hard to stay ahead of Outsider and perhaps we had over pushed things. The rest of the day we spent being much more conservative, sailing under jib top which was prudent when considering the fact that we now only have one fully intact heavy kite with over 2400 miles still to go. We finished repairing one kite and sailed through the night under jib top.

Day 5

The weather was again really squally and we had issues with deciding how hard to push the boat. We sailed a bit more conservatively but every position report showed Outsider catching us up. Eventually by 3pm we put our heavy airs A7 kite up and absolutely flew. Top speed was 27.6 knots and we had a huge 6 hour average. Again it was gutting to find that Outsider posted one more mile than us during the same time period. It’s pretty hard, as they are a much faster boat than us. I think they have a longer bow sprit, 2ft longer water line length, 5m more mast height and also more cant on their keel. That said we could have been a lot worse off than we were and although it was annoying to be rounding Point Alpha second, it was still great to be right up there and just in the lead on corrected time.

We rounded Point Alpha at about midnight US EDT time - it was pouring with rain and there was lightening pretty well marking where we had to round. Questions did arise as to why we do this, feelings which were reinforced by knowing that it’s 1900 miles to the Fair Isle, our next mark of the course.

Day 6

We are sailing along under our repaired A3 kite. The A2 kite has been confirmed as a write off and we are hoping for no more damage! Already today we have narrowly missed a whale when travelling at 20 knots, but spirits are generally a lot higher. Main issues are missing decent food and a severe longing for a shower, clean dry clothes and perhaps some boots which don’t leak!