When news that Puma's Mar Mostro had lost its mast filtered through, it left just three boats racing in the first leg of this year's Volvo Ocean Race.

So far the race has been all about survival, from the moment pre-race favourites Abu Dhabi lost their rig, just hours after the start in Alicante. Following them into retirement, Team Sanya suffered hull damage just a day later, leaving four boats hoping for victory in Cape Town.

The fate of skipper Ken Read and his Puma team was much worse. As their mast smashed into three pieces on Monday, some 2,500 miles from the finish, they re-focussed on reaching Cape Town and effecting repairs in time for Leg 2.

Puma's Mar Mostro with her jury rig

Mar Mostro under jury rig



"The spare mast is being flown in from the US and will meet us in Cape Town," said Ken Read. "We will need to get the boat in the water as soon as we get to Cape Town to tune the rig properly in time to do the In-Port Race and the next leg to Abu Dhabi."

Speaking from the boat, he added: "This evening, the ship Zim Monaco should arrive to our position to deliver 450 litres of diesel. With it, we can make water and make ground towards a given destination [Tristian da Cuhna] with our 15-foot stump."

From there, the team will continue its journey by ship. Read explained: "We plan to have a ship meet us coming from Cape Town with its own crane that can pick the boat up and place it on the ship on our cradle. The harbor is too shallow to get into in Tristan. We will have to do this in the ocean. On the ship will be our shore team with a container of tools and equipment. We will spend the four-plus days of transport to Cape Town putting the pieces of Humpty Dumpty back together."

Ken Read reflects on the drama
There is nothing you should be surprised about in ocean racing. Yesterday was no exception. The day started off simply enough, breeze filling from the northeast, and it was a great ride due south with 20-25 knots of wind and average speeds in the low 20s. Making tracks. Looking at the routing software and seeing only five days and some change left in the leg. Looking at Telefónica and trying to assess where and how we could get by them.

We were racing. Racing is great. Then, in one brief moment, we started surviving.

I was on deck for a couple hours trimming the main for Kelvin and the new watch came on deck. Jono took the main, and Tony grabbed the wheel. The boat was ripping, we liked our spot and all was good. All morning it was reef, un-reef, reef again.

About 10 minutes after I got below, the watch on deck asked for a hand to reef again. Tom Addis had his foul weather gear on and said he would go up and help. Then, three minutes after the reef was in, and we were off again, our world came crashing down around us.  

We are trying to assess what happened to the mast and chances are it will be some little fitting that simply gave it up at the wrong time. It usually is. I hope for our sake it is as simple as that because our spare mast is identical and we have to find the weak link so we can be sure this doesn’t happen again.

Wake up racing, go to sleep 2,500 miles from where you need to be with a 15 foot stump for a mast and a storm jib and storm trysail lashed to it going 2.8 knots. Wondering when food will run out and how to use the limited amount of diesel fuel that is on board. This is when you need friends and people that care for you.  

In the modern days of communication I can call anyone in the world from the phone on the boat just as if I was in my car driving down Memorial Boulevard in Newport, Rhode Island… just a tad more expensive. Calls to Volvo Ocean Race headquarters sprung them into action. Calls to our sponsors and Kimo and the phenomenal shore team, and they spring into action.

So this is where we are.

Well, without the people in the Volvo Ocean Race office and our internal folks and the Rio Maritime Rescue Authority and the radio operator in Tristan and Antonio Bertone [Puma CMO] and Håkan Svensson [Berg CEO] and Captain Borys from the Zim Monaco, etc, etc, there is no way that any of the above crazy scenario [to go to Tristian and ship the boat from there] would even be remotely possible.  

Will it go exactly as planned? For sure no way.  

Will it happen? Hell, why not.

So, between Amory [Ross - media crew member onboard Ma Mostro] and myself, we will report on progress. And, Amo will certainly have his camera tuned to this crazy action. Stay tuned and don’t be surprised if the big cat is back on the line in Cape Town. That is what is keeping the crew on this boat sane right now. Hope. And, the realisation that you never know what tomorrow may bring.