Dee Caffari's Open 60 Aviva lost her mast yesterday morning in more than 45 knots of wind. Dee, who was in the final stages of the single-handed Transat Ecover B to B race, is safe and unhurt but her boat is drifting in strong winds and big seas in the Bay of Biscay about 160 miles off Cape Finisterre in Northern Spain.
A tug is on its way to two her to safety in La Coruna.
"It was around 6.00am and I was sat in the cuddy in all my gear and wearing my harness,” Dee explained. “I was going upwind at 8-9 knots with three reefs in and a staysail and the weather was severe. Aviva fell off a wave, landed with a massive bang and crash then shuddered. I jumped up on deck to see the mast going over the port side of the boat. I just thought: 'Oh my god.'
"I had to work out how to cut the mast free while trying to work out what actually happened. The mast broke just above the third reef and it all fell over to the side. It took an hour and 25 minutes to get the boat away from the damage. I've still got a boom and a deck spreader but I have a damaged dagger board and a damaged rudder. I am adrift in the wind.”
It could be up to 24 hours before a tug reaches Aviva, said Dee's shore team, which put an emergency helicopter on stand by to lift Caffari off the boat if the conditions get worse.
"We are looking at La Coruna in Spain as our nearest destination some 140 miles away,” said Dee. “Hopefully they can get a boat out to tow me back. I don't have enough fuel to motor and everywhere is upwind at the moment so I won't be going anywhere fast.
“The wind is due to ease tonight but my main priority is to get the boat back in. The easy option is to get off but the integrity of the boat is fine and conditions are set to ease so I might have to be patient because it is in our interests to get the boat back safely. Whilst I could easily be lifted off, there is so much on board that I don't want to leave."
HMS Northumberland, a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, diverted its course to provide urgent assistance to Dee Caffari and Aviva. Northumberland, part of the Nato Response Force that conducts maritime security operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, contacted Andrew Roberts, the director of the Aviva shore team, after a warning was put out by the Spanish coastguard.
Dee has been racing the ten-year-old Open 60 throughout 2007 to gain valuable experience before taking delivery of the brand new Aviva which she will race in the 2008/09 Vendée Globe.
Earlier this week the completion of the vessel, built in New Zealand, was announced. Twice as powerful and one ton lighter than her current boat, it should give her a competitive edge as she prepares to join the other 27 entrants in next year's non-stop round-the-world race.
There will be 17 new generation boats competing in the 2008/09 Vendée Globe. By competing, Caffari hopes to become the first woman to sail non-stop solo around the world in both directions and so achieve a double first.
The new Aviva has come out of the same mould as Mike Golding's Ecover III and in the spring of 2008 both teams will meet up in Portugal to test and tune the two boats against each other. This is the first time two British sailing campaigns have formed an alliance of this type and it will help the two skippers challenge the French stranglehold of the round the world race.
Caffari will be flying over to New Zealand to take delivery of her new boat in the New Year. She has described it as “the most amazing Christmas present ever!”
Speaking a few days before yesterday's dismasting drama, she said: “Only a few years ago I was cleaning the bottom of this type of boat. I even cleaned Michel Desjoyeaux's boat during one of his Vendée campaigns and now I face the prospect of racing against him in the same race, in my very own Open 60!
"Over the last year I've been gaining experience in my current Aviva but I've been frustrated knowing that no matter how hard I try I will always be in a slower boat. The new Aviva will be right on the pace, as Mike showed in the sister ship Ecover III in the recent Transat Jacques Vabre. I now have the tool with which to use some of my hard earned experience from racing this year. I can't wait to take the new Aviva Aviva for our first sail together. It will be the first of many to come over the following months."
