Conditions Take Their Toll on CAMPER

25 March 2012

Furious fifty knot winds and five metre plus seas have taken their toll on CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand overnight with the team losing the lead after being forced to slow down to assess and repair bow damage .

The damage occurred in the torrid conditions after CAMPER fell heavily off a very large wave causing a forward structural to begin delaminating. Navigator Will Oxley said it had felt like the boat was “being dropped from a two-storey building”.

As always safety of crew and boat is the number one priority and skipper Chris Nicholson made the difficult decision to de-power the boat and slow up in order to assess the damage and carry out what repairs are possible at sea.

The decision has been costly with CAMPER  being forced to sail several knots slower than its rivals for the last 12 hours and dropping over 100 miles from first place to fourth.

CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson says that the crew are safe and the boat in no immediate danger.

“The boat is in no immediate danger and the crew is fine, but with the bow now flexing and the weight of wind we cannot push on as fast as we would like.

“We are starting on repairs that will allow us to get going as fast as is practical.

“We’ve had the hammer down and had been pushing pretty hard, and the reality is that in these conditions sometimes things can and do go wrong.

“It’s pretty extreme out here and while it’s hugely disappointing to have to give up our lead the important thing is that we look after the boat and crew and  get things back into the best shape possible. It has been a very tough 24 hours.”

CAMPER in the latest position report at 0900h 25 March NZT is sailing at 13 knots in a 35 knot south westerly. Conditions are forecast to remain extreme for some time with winds of 30 to 40 knots forecast  all the way to Caper Horn.

ENDS

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