First thing yesterday morning Team Sanya´s VO70, Sanya Lan, reported to the Volvo Ocean Race headquarters that they had suffered damage to an intermediate diagonal shroud and were heading to southern Madagascar in order to assess the damage and make a repair plan. All the team is safe and well and no one has been injured. The situation is fully under control with the mast still intact and the boat is able to sail to shore unassisted.

A full investigation is under way to establish the cause of the diagonal failure. The CMS lateral rigging system on Sanya Lan is new, state-of-the-art technology but has been through extensive in-house testing over the last two years. It has also been through an on-the-water testing programme in the 12 months leading up to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Sanya Lan rigging was carefully checked in Cape Town prior to the start of this leg.

"We are naturally gutted for the team and are currently working closely with them to review the options," commented Tom Hutchinson, founder of Future Fibres. "The plan is to send a team of technicians to meet the boat in Port D'Ehoala, Madagascar and install a new set of lateral rigging. This is going to involve a great deal of hard work over the Christmas period. We have started production of the cables and parts and are currently working on the logistics of getting the technical team and equipment to Madagascar. However, our priority is to get the boat back in the race as soon as possible."

Image credit: Paul Tood