Nat sez, “You’re on a racing yacht, 650 miles from the finish line of the fifth leg of an around-the-world race. Your mast breaks, you send a team member up to cut free the sail. He slashes at the rigging but also himself, and blood drips down the mast. He comes down white with blood loss and with a massive wound. What do you do? ‘After talking to our team doctor we decided to staple him together. We took out the staple gun and put five staples in him and now he’s as good as new, I think.’ Nope, that’s not what I would have reached for either. I wonder whether the team doctor is also the ship’s carpenter?”
Groupama completed leg 5 last night with 20 points for third place, ensuring they remain in contention for the overall prize.
The French boat leapfrogged leg 5 winners Puma into second place overall, 20 points behind Telefonica, who are facing a hearing into allegations they carried an extra sail on leg 4 into Auckland.
Yachting: NZ sailor aboard Groupama seriously injured