Damm star retires of the BWR

The landlords of the Star Damm, Guillermo Altadill and Jonathan McKee, have made the difficult decision to retire of Barcelona World RACE. Although it would have been possible to repair the system of rudders, the equipment has realized that is impossible to verify it completely and to obtain that the Damm Star returns to regata with the rest of the fleet, within a reasonable time. In addition, the serious preoccupation by the security of the landlords has been considered, if the boat resumed to regata in the most dangerous zone.
 

The landlord of the Damm Star, Guillermo Altadill has declared: “By all means that very we are disappointed of not being able to continue competing. It has been a very hard decision to take, but it is the correct decision. The objective, when coming out of Barcelona World RACE, was to finish in podio and that now is unthinkable. With a distance of 2.500 miles between us and first it would not be to return to enter regata, but simply to try to reach them in a place of the extremely dangerous world. Even the weather forecast de for the next days, when coming out of Cape Town, is bad, with more than 30 wind knots of the South-east with strong surge. They are conditions able for breaking a boat. This already passed to Ericsson and Brazil 1 in last Volvo RACE, losing the masts during the stage of Cape Town. They are not decisions that are had to take lightly, are lives in game and also we must guard by the integrity of the boat. Nevertheless, we are proud of our profits until now. To compete at this sport high level always is very demanding and we are thankful to our sponsoring Damm Star to have supported our efforts. It has been a pleasure to compete with the other equipment and to haggle with Jonathan, that has been a fantastic Co-landlord. The moan by him, because it was yearning for his first contact with the Indian Ocean.”

The Co-landlord Jonathan McKee expressed its feelings: “Still it had the hope of being able to complete my dream to make the return to the world without scales, that was my objective, but now does not go if possible and, obvious, very I am disappointed. Many things have been obtained and I have been able to experience much than the sea and this regata can offer, although during less time del than would have thought originally. For me it has been a fantastic experience, as much during the preparation as in navigation. Of some way our yield has been dissapointing. I know that we have made some erroneous decisions, of which many were mine. But also we have learned much and towards the end we began to sail better. And we have learned much on the mechanical systems attack. In serious, I have demonstrated same that I am able to surpass obstacles and to continue fighting hard, comes what comes. This is very important and he will be to me very useful for the future.”
 

9 of December, being to 620 thousands to the Southwest of Cape Town, the pair contacted with the ground equipment to inform about serious damages in its rudder of port. They had already had problems with its rudder of starboard only 24 hours before, after colliding with an object in the water, that were able to fix they themselves. In this second incident, Altadill and McKee were not able to repair the rudder of port on board the boat and made the decision to turn aside themselves towards Cape Town, to repair it with the support of their ground equipment. After managing to realize a temporary repair of the system of the rudder, Guillermo Altadill and Jonathan McKee they arrived at the Cape Town to 21:30 GMT day 12 of December, being received by its ground equipment, that was immediately put to assess the damage, they removed the rudders and they began to repair them.

Charles Darbyshire, director of the Ground equipment of the Damm Star, explained: “The rudders of the Damm Star are designed to rise if they collide with an object in the water and, they did although it like was predicted, during the time that passed getting up partially and before the problem was detected, underwent lateral loads for which had not been designed. The suffered damages have been repaired in Cape Town and the elevating mechanism has been eliminated. Nevertheless, we include/understand the taken decisions, especially thanks to the experience that has Guillermo in this part of the world.”

The sponsor of the equipment, Damm Star, also laments the happened thing: “We have felt proud to sponsor this team of navigators. Guillermo and Jonathan have demonstrated to authentic value and determination in their efforts to complete this regata, but this time could not have been. As sponsoring of regata it provides something of consolation to participate to us in this incredible regata until the end, and I believe that we will maintain the spirit of Guillermo and Jonathan with us until the end”, commented