The Southern Ocean continues to take its toll on the Volvo Ocean Race fleet with race leader Puma the latest boat to suffer serious structural damage. Irish challenger Green Dragon had its progress stalled yesterday with a broken boom.
Having already cracked a frame in the bow section on Monday night, Puma sustained a further blow when the boat was launched off a wave in the early hours of this morning. The main section of the boat took the brunt of the impact and could take a day to repair.
"This time it's a bit more serious," skipper Ken Read said. "This one may be a bit tougher to work around. Not only is this break in the central structure for the entire boat, but it will take quite a bit longer to put a fix on - maybe as long as 24 hours."
Green Dragon, meanwhile, continues to haemorrage miles on the leaders in the wake of its problems yesterday. The crew are now 96 miles behind Puma, having lost 22 in a matter of hours, and have slipped to seventh place in the stage.
The current stage, from Cape Town to the Indian port of Cochin, is expected to last up to three weeks.