Awkward salvage

BT team members attempting to recover Seb Josse's near submerged Open 60

Having left Horta, Azores yesterday mid-afternoon, the Ilha de Sao Luis tugboat chartered to try and salvage BT is currently attempting to tow the stricken monohull back to the Azores… but difficult weather conditions and the sheer weight of the IMOCA 60 full of water make for a very tricky operation.

The 26m long Ilha de Sao Luis tugboat, with BT Team members Charles Darbyshire, Rhys Mellor and Pierre-Emmenuel Hérissé on board, reached BT's position at approximately 12:00 GMT today. The stricken monohull was drifting in rough seas some 115 miles north of the Azores island of Terceira. The yacht is listing on her port side, due to the keel being canted, the cockpit, the coachroof and the area aft of the mast are underwater… As Sébastien Josse explained on Friday night after he was rescued, "Right after the wave impact, we canted the keel to port to avoid more water coming in the boat, because I was afraid we'd take a second wave and sink in a matter of minutes."

When the salvage crew arrived this morning, the bow was still up but given the sea state it was impossible to send someone on board. Eventually, and after quickly considering various options - time being a major factor since another fierce gale will hit the region tomorrow evening - the men managed to take the yacht in tow. Yet the weight of the water filling up BT means that progress is extremely slow, and for the moment things cannot be taken for granted as the rough seas put a lot of added strain on the already heavily loaded tow line.

The 'special convoy' is crawling its way towards the Azores, not expecting to be able to exceed 4 knots of speed at best. The BT Technical Team is expecting to spend long and difficult hours at sea, but everyone is fully determined and focused on that mission.