A giant hand pulled us over...

24 hours after her dismasting SEB skipper Gunnar Krantz recounts what happened

I guess this is the toughest mail ever. Tears were not far away, when the whole thing 'was over', and we had a little time to reflect. It certainly is a sad day for the project and all individuals working so hard to do their best.

The race for a top spot is over. We now have to concentrate on getting good results in on the legs and see how far it takes us. What has put us in this situation? Was it gear failure? No. Just too much wind at one stage in combination with really bad waves.

Conditions were as hard as only one can imagine - snow storms and winds up to 48 knots in the squalls, really freaky waves as always down here. We had a storm chute, small jiffy reef in the main and a storm jib in the foil, just in case. The gradient wind varied from 28-32 knots. Conditions change from very hard to severe in just a few seconds. Pitch black, snow and the power of the wind just became too much.

The spinnaker was rigged with a 'martin braker' [emergency release to trigger the shackle that holds the spinnaker at the spinnaker pole, can be operated from the deck]. We did not even have time to release the spinnaker with the 'martin braker' when the wind shift and strong gust with snow came in.

We went flat on our side the wrong way and I believe, had the rig not broken, we could have totally submerged the boat. The big waves came in through the companionway. Remember the knock down of Amer Sports One? We have two companionways further apart, further outboard.

The rig did not have a failure itself: it was a result of us being knocked over. We do not know whether the mast hitting the water and overloading it, or something else caused it to brake. It is likely that the speed of SEB'srig smacking the water at 27 knots, caused enormous loads.

After this giant hand pulled the boat over, water was flooding through the hatch. Then there was a first bang, which was followed by the sound of breaking carbon. As the rig broke and fell over the side the hull right itself. We were left with the terrible noise of breaking parts and water moving around inside.

We checked quickly that everybody was still onboard and not injured. This took away the first knot in the stomach. We then went ahead and tried to get the rig organised and back onboard, but for a while it seemed too dangerous. Carbon splinters from the rig were everywhere and just waited to cut somebody up. To wait four hours for daylight was not an option. By then the hull would have been severely damaged.

The waves were doing their best to increase the damage when the mast tube was crushing on the sheer line. By far the safest option was to let it go. The mast was broken three feet above the gooseneck, which didn't leave us much to hoist on. A quick clean up and the hoist of the trysail ended that part of this tragic event for SEB.

We have now constructed a better jury rig and speed through the water is eight knots. We are actually running a schooner rig now and probably breaking every V.O.60 rule there is.

Gurra Krantz
SEB

Photos on pages two and three...