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Skipper Iker Martínez explains how is the situation on board "Telefónica" and tells us what has happened in the last 24 hours.

Skipper Iker Martínez explains how is the situation on board "Telefónica" and tells us what has happened in the last 24 hours

(On the first broken rudder on Thursday 14th June at approximately 12:00 UTC)

It's been a tricky day and night for “Telefónica”. We've suffered a broken rudder. First the starboard rudder broke. Normally, when rudders break it's down to a collision, or at least that is the most common reason. The section with the blade in the water usually breaks and you have to replace it.

Changing this piece has its own problems because once the piece comes out there's a hole in the hull and one has to be incredibly careful that the boat doesn't start taking on water, because then it could become a very difficult situation indeed.

When the rudder broke, we of course lost control and we luffed. We brought down the sails and switched to another tack to bring up the rudder. With some blows downwards we managed to free the piece that was left in, the broken part, which was fairly small, and then we got down to fitting the spare rudder that we carry on board, which was no straightforward operation. The rudder went in from the outside, so a crew member with a harness was on the outside too and we managed to pull the new rudder up and into place.

Once the new rudder was in we were able to sail normally and we climbed back up the spots we'd lost. We'd gone from being in first to dropping down to fourth and then we were able to get up ahead again and to get past the boats and into the lead.

At the end of the leg, when there was an important decision to be taken, which was 'when to gybe', we managed to gybe.

(On what happened during the night)

Now on a direct course for Lorient, with just 350 miles to go we broke the same rudder. As the rudder broke we lost control and as this time it was the windward rudder the boat went off course and we had a tricky situation to deal with again. We had to lower the sails and when we had managed to get the situation under control again we set course for France, for Lorient.

(On the current situation on board)

Right now we're sailing with the rudder on the other side. Fortunately the hull has been sealed so we're not taking on any water and we are lucky enough to still have a rudder so that we can sail to startboard but with the added complication that it is also damaged and so we can't reach one hundred per cent speeds. So, in terms of the competition, well it's just impossible for us to go as fast as they are.

Conclusion: Two broken rudders and a damaged one in six hours. The worst thing is that we were playing for the regatta and our chances of winning this are almost nil now, so anyway... A tough day, a difficult day. Of course, we're not happy, far from it and now all that's left is to try to finish without losing the rudder, so that we have some control and so that the boat can reach the port in good shape and so that all of the crew can reach shore in one piece too.

We're all ok, everything's ok but it's not a nice place to suffer these problems and we hope to get to Brittany as soon as we can. We're at 120 miles now, which isn't much. Let's hope we can get a good routing, arrive and that we all get there safe and sound, which is the top priority, above winning the regatta, especially now that we can't actually win it. We have to be careful and we have to all get home safely.

Of course, if you stay at home you never make any errors out in the world and things can't go wrong for you. Here we are and unfortunately, things aren't quite going as we'd have liked them to, but we send out our warmest regards and I hope we'll soon be back on shore and relaxed to perhaps analyse what happened a bit better.