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Broken mast ends MacArthur's dream
LORIENT, France (CNN) -- British skipper Ellen MacArthur's attempt to be the fastest sailor round the world has ended with the dismasting of her yacht. Late on Sunday night, the mast of the giant catamaran Kingfisher2 dismasted for no apparent reason, MacArthur said. "We have had a lot of bad luck on this trip but we fought on and things were just turning for us. Now tragically it's all over." The yacht was on day 25 of trying to break the Jules Verne record of 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds, set by Bruno Peyron in Orange in 2002. "Suddenly without warning the mast came crashing down, falling forward and missing the three crew who were on deck at the time," the team's official Web site said on Monday. At the time of the accident, Kingfisher2 was about one day ahead of the record, sailing in moderate conditions of 25-30 knots in a 1.5 metre swell under full mainsail and spinnaker, approximately 100 miles south east of the Kerguelen Islands. The disappointed crew had rigged up a temporary mast within a few hours and were heading towards the nearest practical port, Perth, Western Australia, about 2,000 miles to the east. MacArthur decided not to head to the closer Kerguelen Islands because of limited facilities there and "ultimately the giant catamaran will need to make to a port with cargo facilities to return her to Europe." The 39.5 metre carbon mast broke in two places. A 10-metre section was salvaged, but the remainder of the mast, rigging and sails were cut away to prevent any further damage to the boat. The hull was punctured by the mast as it fell, but the team said the boat was not taking on water and remained in a seaworthy condition. Kingfisher2 had struggled throughout the early part of its attempt, lagging behind the existing record and Jules Verne rival Geronimo, which was racing ahead. "We have had a lot of bad luck on this trip, a lot of disappointing weather situations which has put us continuously behind the record," MacArthur said. The crew had managed to get ahead of the record, and had been boosted by the becalming of Geronimo in the South Atlantic. "Then, bang, all of sudden it's all over. To watch all that work drift away was so painful," MacArthur said. Crew member Neal McDonald said there was silence from the crew when the accident happened. "The look on the guys faces just says it all, total doom and gloom. It's the end of a huge attempt that could have been so successful. Things were really starting to look good for us." Eight of the 12 Jules Verne attempts have failed since the first bid in 1993.
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