What to Do When Your Mast Breaks in a Round-the-World Sailing Race : Discovery Channel

A Troubled Start

When the six teams in the Volvo Ocean Race set out from Alicante, Spain, they all knew they were in for the toughest nine months of their lives. The first leg erased any doubts, when only half of the boats arrived in Cape Town in one piece. Of the three teams that ran into trouble, Puma’s challenge was by far the greatest, and most incredible. Things were going well until the mast of the Mar Mostro snapped in three places and crashed to the deck. The boat was 700 miles from the nearest landmass.

Skipper Ken Read was standing on deck with a bowl of food in his hand when a piece of stainless steel supporting the mast broke. The sound of the mast hitting the deck was unmistakable. Once Read had verified that no one on board was injured, he realized how utterly different a challenge the team was now facing- Read called it the start of an “unreal adventure.” No longer were they racing to Cape Town. They were in the middle of the southern Atlantic Ocean, and the new priority was making it back to land alive.

The fallen mast of the crippled Mar Mostro. Photo: Amory Ross / PUMA Ocean Racing

A New Challenge

Read said that the mast breaking is “always a possibility, never something you expect to happen.” First, they sat down to figure out what to do- whether to head back towards Europe or try to make it to the African coast. Instead, they set course for the closest spot of land: the tiny island of Tristan da Cunha. Halfway between Cape Town and Buenos Aires, Tristan is the most remote inhabited island on the planet. Its nearest neighbor is Saint Helena- the island where Napoleon died in exile.

The Puma sailors set up a jury rig, a makeshift mast to replace the broken one. That wouldn’t get them very far; they would have to rely on the small diesel motor on board for emergencies such as this. But they only had enough fuel for two days of very slow motoring, not nearly enough to cover the 700 miles to Tristan.

The jury rig. Photo: Amory Ross / PUMA Ocean Racing

A Mid-Ocean Zip Line

For much needed extra fuel, Read was able to call in a nearby freighter. But in the middle of the ocean, it’s no simple task to move supplies from the deck of a ship that is more than a hundred feet above the water onto a yacht far below. The sailors and the freighter’s crew set up a zip line to send 300 liters of diesel down to the Mar Mostro.

In what Read called “as heart stopping a moment as there is,” the Puma team struggled to keep their boat close enough to the Zim Monaco to make the transition possible, but far enough to avoid smashing against the hull of the bigger craft. “It was an hour and a half that took about forty years off of my life,” said Read.

puma volvo ocean race mast break diesel pickup

Getting diesel from the Zim Monaco. Photo: Amory Ross / PUMA Ocean Racing

Land at Last

Now armed with a full supply of fuel, the Mar Mostro headed slowly for Tristan da Cunha. It turned out the Zim Monaco had given them just enough; they arrived on the tiny island running on fumes. But their adventure was far from over. They were on a remote island with no way to repair their boat, hundreds of miles from Cape Town and waiting for rescue.