The crew of Translated 9, overall leaders in the Ocean Globe Race, faced a race against time to stay in the race after suffering hull damage near Cape Horn on Leg 3.
Translated 9, the Swan 65 (formerly ADC Accutrac in the 1977/78 Whitbread Round the World Race) had won both Leg 1 and 2 on IRC corrected, and was challenging for both line honours with Pen Duick VI, and 1st in IRC, in the Auckland to Punta del Este third stage when they ran into winds of 40-45 knots, gusting 60.
Team boss Marco Trombetti told Yachting World: “After three days in very bad weather, two before Cape Horn and one after, we discovered a crack in the hull. There was minimal amount of water coming in, but we kept finding water in the bilge. So we started opening everything and discovered a much bigger crack in the aft cabin, just over the skeg. In every single wave it was pumping water in.”
Uncertain that they could safely make it to Punta del Este, the team diverted to the Falklands.
After diving the hull, they realised the damage was substantial and would require a haul out, forcing them to retire from the leg. However, with limited facilities available, the team had to make some ingenious, Whitbread-worthy adaptations.
“The Falklands are beautiful islands, but just 3,000 people, no infrastructure, nothing. And there was no crane, so that’s where the adventure started.We convinced a cargo ship nearby to come into port and lift us out of the water. But then there was no cradle, so we found metal pieces on the island and built a cradle while the cargo ship was actually holding the boat.”
The crew’s first attempt at a cradle proved too small, but with the cargo ship on a tight schedule the crew reshaped it under the suspended yacht.
“We just started welding around it to make sure the boat would stay there,” Trombetti recalls.
The next challenge was to source the glassfibre and resins needed to make the repair.
“Just one plane per week comes to the island. So it would have taken two weeks to get the material. Plus they would not deliver epoxy on the plane because it’s too dangerous. I thought we h
