ESTRELLA DAMM RETIRES FROMTHE ROLEX FASTNET RACE BUT PREPARES FOR BARCELONA WORLD RACE QUALIFIER
Three and a half hours after the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race today, Spanish skipper Guillermo Altadill and American co-skipper Jonathan McKee officially announced their retirement from the race, prologue of the Barcelona World Race.
At 1100 BST hours this morning, the Rolex Fastnet Race organisers fired the gun to free the IMOCA Open 60 fleet. For all the Barcelona World Race competitors, including the Estrella Damm Sailing Team, this was the first opportunity to race against each other before the big event that will start from Barcelona on 11th November.
Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss was first to cross the start line while Estrella Damm along with Véolia Environnement, Mutua Madrilena and PRB chose a northerly option when the rest of the fleet remained closer to the shore . Estrella Damm were first to tack and lying in fifth position at the Needles when problems arose.
A fault in the electronics controlling the keel motors was detected, effectively easing the keel from its canted position. Both men re-started the keel control system without success. With some uncertainty as to the cause of the problem, the duo decided that given the strong weather forecast ahead, there was no other choice than to retire from the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Guillermo Altadill reported: “We are suffering from teething problems which is quite normal when you have a boat as new as ours, and especially with these very technical boats that are the IMOCA Open 60s. We didn’t start the race very well, but gained some of our lost miles very quickly. Estrella Damm was very fast and we were very confident with our strategy.
“We caught up with the second leading group and our performances kept us progressing in the fleet. A few minutes later, the keel went leeward and we couldn’t get the electrical switch that blocks the hydraulic circuit of the canting keel to work.
“We will now check the system thoroughly and our plan is to leave on our qualifying sail in 48 hours.”
Jonathan McKee confirmed: “An hour in the race, we were going good with the other guys and had a good pace and good conditions. I think we have a great boat and we are happy with what we’ve got and will aim to set sail again next Wednesday afternoon.”