One man down

Bowman Michael Pammenter ribbed off Telefonica Black after start with foot injury

Fernando's Echavarri's Telefonica Black, which burst out of the starting blocks in first place at the start of the Volvo Ocean Race's sixth leg from Rio de Janeiro, will sail to Boston one man short.

Bowman Michael Pammenter has injured his foot, and was taken back to the Marina da Gloria by a support boat. Under the race rules, the team cannot replace him during this leg. Upon arrival at the marina, Pammenter was transferred to hospital to have his leg and foot examined.

"I had the jib sheet wrapped around my foot when we went into a tack and I got flipped into the rig," he said, describing how it occured. "I got my foot stuck between the mast and the jib sheet basically. It's really painful but I've had some painkillers so it's calmed down a lot, but there's a lot of swelling so we thought it would be safer if I got off the boat and got it checked out properly. Hopefully I'll be back for the next leg."