Yachting: Broken rudder forces Tyco to turn back

By JULIE ASH

After a dream start to the second leg of the round-the-world race, Kevin Shoebridge's Tyco has struck disaster.

A broken rudder has forced it to turn around and head back to South Africa just four days after the start of the second leg in Cape Town.

"It's shattering news for us," said Aucklander Shoebridge. "But we worry more about the safety of the boat and safety of the guys at this moment."

Having led the second leg of the Volvo-sponsored race for the past three days, Shoebridge heard what he described as a loud bang.

"We were sailing along earlier today in about 25 knots of breeze when we heard a loud bang from the back of the boat," he said.

An inspection revealed cracks in the carbon fibre taping on the rudder stock between the two bearings.

The crew put clamps around the rudder stock to try to prevent more damage and sailed the boat conservatively to reduce the loads on the rudder.

After a second bang, it become obvious the shaft was close to shearing off.

The crew took down the sails and rigged the emergency rudder.

They also prepared all the water-tight bulkheads as an extra precaution.

Although they are preparing to sail back to South Africa, the port and their plan for the remainder of the leg have yet to be decided.

Port Elizabeth, on the southeast corner of South Africa, is their nearest port.

But getting there requires around 750 miles of upwind sailing, which might take up to a week.

Even if Tyco had a spare rudder and could fit it quickly, it would still have at least three days' sailing to regain its present position.

The scheduled three-week stopover in Sydney would then be reduced to not much more than a week.

Nothing in the race rules prevents a boat being shipped from one port to the next, which is an option Tyco must seriously be considering.

The V. O.60-class yachts are required by race rules to carry an emergency rudder system.

Like everything on a V. O.60, the rudder must be as light as possible but at the same time strong enough to resist the enormous loads placed on it by steering the boat at high speed through sometimes mountainous seas.

In the 1993-1994 Whitbread race, the crew of Brooksfield successfully sailed 1000 miles through the Southern Ocean to Fremantle using a similar emergency rudder after a rudder bearing failed, causing the rudder to break away from the hull.

Three of the Tyco crew, British sailors Tim Powell, Gerry Mitchell and Steve Hayles, will be getting a distinct feeling of déjà vu.

Eight years ago, on their Whitbread yacht Dolphin and Youth, they were forced to pull in to the remote Kerguelen Islands to fix rudder problems.

Last night Assa Abloy were building a useful lead over the fleet, and were 20 nautical miles ahead of Amer Sports One, with djuice and SEB close behind.

Illbruck was a further 20 miles back, with Newscorp and Amers Sports Too still further behind.

The fleet are expected to arrive in Sydney around December 4.