Volvo Ocean Race jury wrangles

MAPFRE docked two points after repairing its outrigger

The Volvo Ocean Race's International Jury, headed by Bernard Bonneau, has been busy in Itajaì.

Team SCA applied to replace their Race FRO with their pre-race FRO. On day 7 of the last leg, the boat broached and the FRO tore down the luff and horizontally across the sail to the leech causing the boat to crash gybe. The majority of the sail ended up in the water where it continued to flog, while the crew recovered from the broach and then recovered the sail.

The full damage report of the sail is here. The report from the Volvo Ocean Race Boatyard Sail Loft deemed that the damaged sail was unusable. It also questioned its structural integrity. The report stated that ‘given the size of the tear and the area of damaged cloth it is not possible to repair SCA’s FRO to a standard where it would be suitable for the remaining legs of the Race’ and concluded that it was ‘not repairable for the purpose of being used for further racing.’

In their submission to the International Jury, the team stated that they considered that the incident was a racing incident, and one that occurs in trans-ocean races. Indeed two other boats in the fleet also suffered similar wipeouts.

However the request was turned down by the International Jury. Sam Davies, Team SCA skipper, commented: “We are of course incredibly disappointed with the ruling. Not being able to use the FRO for two thirds of Leg 5 had a major impact on our performance. We will now look to do everything in our power to try to make this sail as usable and as safe as possible as, if this sail breaks again, there is potential for further damage to the boat and crew. But the reality is that there will always be a huge risk factor associated with the sail especially as we still have some 10,000 miles of racing left.”

Sails have been a subject of much discussion across the fleet since the start of the race and Team SCA raised its concerns on the limited sail numbers when the rule was first published. Race rules allow each team to have only eight sails onboard with four as back-up, which is one of the smallest inventories that this Race has seen.

With the sail-making team hard a work, the rest of crew is now making their final preparations ahead of the leg start on Sunday.

Team Vestas Wind was also denied permission to replace its J3 when the team returns to the race.

MAPFRE

The Volvo Ocean Race's Race Committee protested the Spanish team MAPFRE for not asking for permission before undertaking repairs to an outrigger, and another to the bow, during last leg.

As the Race Committee's submission states: "During Leg 5, MAPFRE repaired outrigger broken close to the attachment point to the hull. It was also modified by the addition of a strengthening splint approximately one metre long. On 22 March, MAPFRE glued and bolted 6 battens to the inside skin of the boat. The battens were placed longitudinally within the area formed by the forward ballast tank, Bulkhead A and Bulkhead B.

The Volvo Ocean 65 class rule requires a team to immediately inform the Volvo Ocean 65 Class Authority (VCA) if a team considers a repair necessary. A report from one of the measurer’s Jack Lloyd (Race Director) led to the presentation of the protest which upholds that the Spanish team did not provide sufficient notice in the manner required about both their repairs. However, the International Jury has recognised in their report that the repairs undertaken by MAPFRE were not made to improve the performance of their boat. In fact they did not increase the boat speed, quite the contrary.

The team had argued through its Rules Advisor, Luis Sáenz Mariscal, that in both cases with their bow and outrigger, skipper Iker Martínez had made the reinforcements because of fears that both were damaged. He added that the outrigger had broken on previous occasions in the race and the crew had heard a bang from the bow and feared it was delaminating. He said that in Southern Ocean conditions, Martínez feared that the boat and crew were in danger if the measures were not taken. He said the crew had not informed the VCA, but had openly shared video content showing repairs to Race Control in Alicante, Spain.

But the International Jury ruled on the side the Race Committee and in a show of force has docked MAPFRE two points from its overall results. This means that MAPFRE's overall points total is now 20 dropping them from fourth to fifth.

As Skipper of the next leg from Itajai to Newport, RI, Xabi Fernández explained : “It has been a tough day and quite a complicated one for us. Firstly, in the last leg we fought really hard, as we always have done. We had good conditions in the Southern Ocean but naturally with strong winds, and we had to push to the limit as the rest of the teams were doing the same. But I also think that we kept our safety paramount: that of the boat and the crew above everything else. When we have problems on board or we think we might have, we need to deal with them and find an immediate solution.

“As offshore sailors we have the experience and the duty to treat problems as they arise, to avoid unnecessary risks. I believe that this is an added value that we have as a team, one shared by all offshore sailors. You learn from experience and many problems and points lost in the past, and you are more prepared.

“I think we did the right thing: we found a solution to two problems which we had on board, and reduced the risks. We would do the same again a thousand times. I want to emphasise that this comes from being well-prepared and having experience, just like we were prepared in case we had to make an emergency stop in Ushuaia (Argentina). The last three or four times we have been there we have always had problems, and for this reason we had part of the shore crew on stand-by in Ushuaia with all the necessary material in case we had to make repairs.

“The international jury has declared that we had no advantage to our performance or speed with the repairs undertaken on board. It was just an administrative error and a little bureaucracy regarding the way a boat informs of any damage suffered and how it is repaired. We have been given a penalty for making the repairs, and the team does not agree with it. We feel it is completely out of proportion.

“As we all know, the leg finishes are proving really close, four boats in under an hour in the last leg. We have fought really hard for each point, so to have two taken from us in this way, is too much and completely disproportionate in our view”, declared the Olympic sailing champion from the Basque Country.

“We have made a note of these bureaucratic procedures for the future, but do not agree with the solution which has been given in this case. We will keep fighting hard, but of course losing two points in the overall classification is a really big deal."

Dongfeng Race Team

However following the breakage of its topmast, Dongfeng Race Team was given permission to replace its damaged race mainsail with their pre-race mainsail for the forthcoming Team Vestas Wnd Itajaí In-Port Race as well as Leg 6.

After the mast breakage, skipper Charles Caudrelier explained they had no option but to cut the mainsail to prevent further damage, potentially endangering the crew.