Officially retired

Spreader repairs cannot be made without outside assistance reports Derek Hatfield

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

I have just notified the race committee that I must officially retire from the Vendee Globe 2008/09. After the knock down and damage to the mast I continued to look for solutions to fix the broken spreaders while the mast is still standing. After considering all the options we have concluded that it is not possible to make a repair without outside assistance, which is not allowed in this race. I was hoping I would wake up and it was all a bad dream.

It's time to move on with a plan to move forward. We have accomplished so much; building the IMOCA 60 in Canada, preparing and qualifying for the hardest race in the world and unfortunately being knocked out indiscriminately like so many others, among them some of the elite single-handed sailors in the world. At first I was devastated, not for me, but for those individuals and corporate sponsors that have helped us get this far. But in the last few days, their words to me of encouragement have shown me that we have nothing to be ashamed about; that we tried our best and played well. I'm not sure if we made a difference or not but I think you will agree that this type of event truly captures the imagination of the world. These thoughts have turned it around for me and now I'm ready to move forward. We were able to find a number of sponsors, including Algimouss; we can find more so that we can continue with Spirit of Canada as we always planned, representing Canada and our partners on the world stage in the IMOCA 60 circuit.

The Plan

The immediate plan is to take the boat to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It's just under 900 miles away and it will take me about 8 more days to reach port. If the mast is still standing when I get there, we will be able to remove it from the boat and fix the spreaders and the mast will be whole again. We have been in contact with other teams and preparing ourselves to ship Spirit of Canada home, saving all the wear and tear on the boat and crew. Once back in the northern hemisphere, we can refurbish the boat and prepare it for what's next, racing single-handed and preparing and training new members of the team. The IMOCA circuit continues in May with races throughout Europe and the North Atlantic. For this we need to find more sponsors; hopefully our performance in the Vendee Globe will help us succeed at that.

What Spirit of Canada Needs

A lot of the emails that we have received have asked how they can help. Our budget is tight to non-existent so our immediate need is for financial assistance in the form of money, logistics, shipping partners, air miles etc, etc. Your emails have provided me with a lot of emotional support and I thank you again. As always, Patianne is the back bone of the team and can be contacted at any time with your ideas on how to secure sponsorship or make donations. Her coordinates are: mobile 416-816-7446 or by email patianne@spiritofcanada.net.

I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting Spirit of Canada. If you would like to discuss any of these details, please do not hesitate to contact me on my mobile: 416-844-7245 or by email: derek@spiritofcanada.net.