Artemis into port

Dismasted Open 60 pulls into Vigo

Artemis Ocean Racing, arrived in Vigo, Spain on Thursday at 0800, nearly 40 hours after dismasting in the Transat Jacques Vabre race.

Jonny Malbon and co-skipper Graham Tourell were four days into the famous race from Le Havre to Bahia in Brazil when Artemis dismasted in 35 knots of wind on Tuesday at 1420GMT, 100 miles away from the coast of Spain.

The pair tried to save the boom and the bottom section of the mast but had to cut the rig free and discard the boom, mast and sails overboard to prevent the hull from being damaged. The rough sea conditions meant Artemis couldn’t be towed back to Spain by a rescue boat, nor could she motor to safety until conditions improved. After spending most of Tuesday afternoon and night drifting, the skippers were only able to start motoring towards Vigo on Wednesday afternoon when the conditions lightened.

A relieved Malbon, 33, and Tourell, 31, were greeted in Vigo by their shore crew.

As he arrived on the dock, Malbon said: “We are still very disappointed and tired but very happy at the same time to meet our team and to have Artemis safely tied up. It has been a shock to all of us but now we just need to work on getting the boat back into shape. Over the next few days we will be working out what we are going to do and how we can move forward but also try to get some decent rest. Gringo and I would like to say thank you to all of you who sent messages and supported us during this dramatic experience.”