"MAPFRE" Back On Track After Daggerboard Repairs
The IMOCA Open 60 skippered by Olympic champions Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez in the Barcelona World Race, "MAPFRE", is back with one foot firmly on the gas, fighting harder than ever to defend second place in the overall general rankings, the position now hers for the fifteenth consecutive day of racing.
This morning the double Olympic champions revealed details of the exhausting situation experienced on board over a period of four tough days, having broken the port side daggerboard. This is a part weighing some 100 kg and measuring over four metres in length that the Basque sailors managed to repair on board, using the limited resources available and with 20 knots of breeze blowing.
Five days ago Iker and Xabi collided with an object which they were not able to identify, but which damaged one of the daggerboards, a metre to a metre and a half from the tip. "The bow end was more damaged whereas main structure had withstood the impact better, with the deepest part now the rudder stock, totally uncovered," explained the skipper from Hondarribia (Guipuzcoa).
The situation put the "MAPFRE" skippers in a spot of bother: "Without a daggerboard you can survive without dropping back too much as far as Cape Horn, but after that, forget it," commented an honest Iker Martinez.
After four days of hard work, Iker Martinez described the feelings in detail in his email: "We decided to try to put it in place as soon as the wind dropped below 20 knots. We prepared everything, hung the daggerboard from a halyard and in a calmer spot we slowed the boat right down and got down to it," said Martinez, both exhausted and satisfied.
"The operation went quite well and we had the daggerboard in position – what satisfaction! We were both exhausted, dead on our feet, drained and that’s when we got the report that "Estrella Damm" was just over 10 miles to our stern. We’d managed to carry out the repairs without them overtaking us, so we were over the moon! It was like going a set up!" he added.
The entire email sent by Iker Martinez with details of the daggerboard repair can be found at www.iker-xabi.com/en/logbook
General Rankings Day 41 – 09:00 GMT.
1. Virbac-Paprec 3 (Jean Pierre Dick – Loick Peyron) FRA, 13,432 miles from finish
2. MAPFRE (Iker Martinez – Xabi Fernandez) ESP, +489.7 miles
3. Estrella Damm Sailing Team (Alex Pella – Pepe Ribes) ESP, +521.5 miles
4. Groupe Bel (Kito de Pavant – Sebastien Audigane) FRA, +723.2 miles
5. Renault Z. E. (Pachi Rivero – Antonio Piris) ESP, +1,132.4 miles
6. Mirabaud (Dominique Wavre – Michele Paret) SUI, +1,603.5 miles
7. Neutrogena Formula Noruega (Boris Herrmann – Ryan Breymaier) NOR, +1,713.2 miles
8. Gaes Centros Auditivos (Dee Caffari – Anna Corbella) GBR/ESP, +2,198.2 miles
9. Hugo Boss (Wouter Verbraak – Andy Meiklejohn) GBR, +2,205.9 miles
10. Forum Maritim Catala (Gerard Marin – Ludovic Aglaor) ESP, +3,319 miles
11. We Are Water (Jaume Mumbru – Cali Sanmarti) ESP, +3,488.4 miles
12. Central Lechera Asturiana (Juan Merediz – Fran Palacio) ESP, +3,512.8 miles
** President (Jean le Cam – Bruno Garcia) FRA/ESP, Race Abandoned 12th January.
** Foncia (Michel Desjoyeaux – Francois Gabart) FRA, Race Abandoned 26th January.
www.iker-xabi.com
barcelonaworldrace.com
April 23, 2024
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