Movistar Incurs Two Hour Penalty

Straight after the euphoria of the Volvo Ocean Race leg three win, Bouwe BEKKING’s (NED) movistar team came down to earth with a bump. The team will take a two hour penalty for outside assistance during this pit stop to repair hull damage problems before the next leg to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The boat was taken to a boat lift and immediately the hull cleared the water it was obvious that large parts of the keel wedges that fair the keel aperture and the sliding ‘bomb doors’ had been ripped from the hull. There was also damage to the fairing at the hull aperture for the port side dagger board.

Now that the boat has accepted the penalty they can have their shore team or outside experts to work on the boat until it is time to leave for the start of leg four this Sunday 19 February.

The wedges are foam and carbon fibre fillers between the sliding plates that move with the canting keel to stop most of the water that might come into the boat through the hole the keel works through.

An Automatic Two Hour Penalty

Movistar was hauled out of the water at the Oriental Bay marina this afternoon for the damage to be inspected and fixed. She automatically incurs a two hour penalty at Sunday’s restart.

The team’s shore-based boat builder Peter BRITT said he had been alerted to the problem yesterday. ‘The crew felt it happen,’ he said.

movistar‘s technical shore boss, Fred BARRETT will make an emergency dash from Hobart, Australia to Wellington via Sydney tomorrow, armed with a new dagger board cover plate and the new wedge, which will then have to be laminated in place and faired, to provide a smooth, hydrodynamically smooth underside to the boat.

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