Hook issues force Boris Herrmann from 4th to 6th place in the Vendée Globe
by Holly Cova 28 Nov 2020 06:08 GMT
28 November 2020
Late last night, Boris Herrmann holding onto 4th place, contacted his Team Manager, Holly Cova, to inform her that he was having issues with releasing his Gennaker hook and would have to slow the boat to perform a mast climb in order to fix the issue. He had tried repeatedly to unhook but without success.
The sun set was fast approaching and so time was of the essence, particularly as Boris was aware that the wind was likely to fill in in the morning, making this operation much more difficult.
At 20:45 UTC Boris started to prepare and began his ascent of the mast. Once at the top, Boris was able to manually unhook the sail. Watch here for the mast climb and the second video for his explanation of the issue.
In total the procedure took 1 hour and 25 minutes. Once safely back onboard he contacted his team, who had been on standby, to let them know he was safe and had solved the problem.
The manoeuvre was luckily carried out in lower winds with a calm sea state, however, Boris commented, “climbing the mast is my least favourite job, I have a fear of heights, so would like to have avoided this option. However, the sea state was calm, so it was the best time to go. At the top of the mast I felt quite shaky and seasick, but I managed the procedure and freed the sail with little issues. I am happy to be back on the deck though.”
Now Boris needs to push Seaexplorer to make up the lost places and catch PRB and Maitre CoQ who used the opportunity to push ahead and now hold 5th and 4th place respectively.
This Vendee Globe has proven to be an eventful one as we approach the third week of the race many sailors have already faced challenging issues, luckily Boris was able to fix this problem quickly and efficiently.
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