‘Not easy!’ – Team Malizia to attempt critical mast repair on the water at The Ocean Race 2022-23

Team Malizia have confirmed that their crew will attempt a critical mast repair on the water during Leg 3 of The Ocean Race 2022-23.

The damage was discovered on Wednesday afternoon, with Malizia’s technical team working hard to find a solution.

That solution will now be implemented on Thursday and while the team will stay on the water, it will obviously result in a major slowdown as the work will take a long time and be complicated.

The team’s statement read: “Co-skipper Rosalin Kuiper climbed up the mast to take photos of the damage in order to assess the situation.

“The crack is 30cm long and has ripped a vertical line in the top of the mast just above the first reef and where the fractional head sail would sit.

“The technical team have discussed the issue with their external designers and engineers and have elaborated a plan for the mast repair.

“The repair involves preparing the area and then laminating large patches to the top of the mast to cover the ripped area. The repair should give the mast the same strength as before and allow the team to continue sailing with full use of all sails.

“If the crew are not fully satisfied with the repair then they could still continue but with reduced sails. As the team needs many hours to do this they will wait until first light to start and continue under reduced sail until then.

“This is not an easy repair to execute at sea, clipped on to the top of a 28 metre mast which will be swaying at huge degrees in the large Southern Ocean swell.

“The repair will take hours and will involve sanding the area, preparing the lamination and then laminating it. The team will be fully briefed by the tech team but the strength and endurance to do the repair in these conditions should not be underestimated. It should be clear by lunchtime tomorrow if it has been possible.

“[Malizia skipper] Boris Herrmann sent a video to the team saying, ‘We have discussed how to deal with it. So we are trying to repair it tomorrow then the water should be a little quieter. This is of course a strong setback for us but still we have to keep going.

“The sun’s rays are shining through the clouds as if they wanted to show us that maybe there is more to it than just winning or not winning!'”

“I was just coming off watch and I was just about to get into my bed and I could see on the opposite side of the boat there was a pelican case tied to the floor and it was moving,” said Annie Lush of the issue.

“I didn’t think I’d seen it move like that before and when I went to check I could hear the noise of delamination… We could hear it and see it moving up and down… We spoke to the architects and there is no way we can fix this out here, so we have to return to Cape Town.”

The problems for other teams mean Holcim-PRB have pulled out a massive lead but there is still a long way to go on the race to Itajai, Brazil.

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