Pip slows after discovering crack in rudder stock

Yesterday lunchtime, while doing my routine checks onboard Medallia I discovered that my port rudder stock is cracked and so I have had to suspend racing.

The crack is in the stock between the deck and the hull, just underneath where the quadrant attaches and every time the pilot was going to move the rudder the crack was getting a little bit worse. I have no choice but to change the port rudder. If I continue sailing hard the stock will fail under load in a matter of hours. Naturally I am completely devastated about this failure and what it means to my race but the only thing to do right now is to put the racing on hold and focus on solving this problem to keep both me and Medallia safe.

I have been lucky. I noticed the failure while I was on a port tack, so the rudder was not the one under load which immediately allowed me to disconnect all of the steering linkage, but keep control of the boat with the stbd rudder. This has prevented any further damage to both the stock or the steering gear. I am also lucky that I spotted this damage as I was due to gybe back onto Stbd and sail hard in 30 knots of wind in the next three hours and it is certain that the rudder stock would have failed at that point, with the boat under full sail and fully loaded up. I have a spare rudder onboard and so we can fix this problem.

I am now sailing very slowly East, with just my small jib up, making way but under minimal load. My main objective now is to find suitable conditions to make the switch. This is challenging in this location as the sea state needs to be relatively calm. Yesterday it looked like there might be a window later on today. That could still be a possibility as the wind strength will drop but we have no idea how quickly the sea state will calm down to make this possible. If this window is not suitable then I will need to sail Medallia to the north to try and get out of the main flow of wind. This could take a few days but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Naturally I am devastated. But I am also accepting. This has happened and it cannot be changed. The only action now is to deal with the problem in the best way possible and then move forwards from there. I am hugely proud of my performance to date. It has been a total joy to race this intensely for 59 days and it will be a total joy to get back into the race when I am finished. I had a few tears but not many because this problem is a big one and there is only one way to deal with it - which is a total focus of energy on solving it and staying safe. I will never forget the fact I was 15th for so long and when I get back to racing again, whenever that may be I will do my very best to claw my way back up the fleet again for now I have just hit pause.

We will keep you up to date if the weather is not good to change the rudder today. There is no cause for worry or concern, I am safe, I am positive and we have a plan.