The Ocean Race: Biotherm team races to repair foil ahead of leg 4 after finishing fourth in leg 3

The Biotherm team of technicians is working hard to repair their damaged foil before the start of leg 4 of The Ocean Race.

The team has shifted the foil project to a composite materials facility near Itajai, where experts are grinding back the damaged material to find the undamaged part that will be built up layer by layer with new carbon fibre.

Despite the meticulous repair process, the team is confident that the repaired area will be as good as new.

Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat has also announced the crew line-up for leg 4, which includes British sailor Alan Roberts, Marie Riou, a four-time world champion and winner of The Ocean Race in 2017/18 with Dongfeng Race Team, and Portuguese Olympian and World Champion, Mariana Lobato.

The team will become the first to start a leg with an equal split of two male and two female crew racing the boat, with Anne Beauge returning as on-board reporter.

Earlier in the week, Meilhat spoke on the challenges as the team looked to finish on the podium in the third leg.

“The wind is quite unstable,” Meilhat said. “[On Monday] we weren’t on the damaged foil so that was good. But we have been sailing for the last 10 days without the wind sensor and it’s been really hard, trying to steer the boat during the night when you can’t see the sails.

“But we’ve been going fast compared to the forecast and we’ve come back on 11th Hour Racing Team so that’s good news. Maybe we can fight for third place. We have hope and hope is an engine for the crew!

“The water continues to come in to the boat. But not a lot – it’s something like 50-100 litres per hour, so it’s OK. Monday we had an opportunity to try and fix it a bit more so we are confident.

“It’s really hard to say the ETA as the wind is so different from the prediction… We hope to arrive on Wednesday but I don’t know when.”

The team ended up finishing in fourth.

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