Sam Goodchild tears mainsail in half in the Vendée Globe

Note: Sorry about the background noise in this. I recorded it in the queue for the plane in Dusseldorf airport! News in today from the Vendée Globe  that Sam Goodchild on Vulnerable has torn his mainsail from luff to leech at the level of the third batten. The means that currently his mainsail is unusable and he has to drop it and lash it to the boom, diverting on an eastern course to find lighter winds to try and implement a repair. The damage happened when the boat went through a pair of gybes on autopilot, meaning the gybes were uncontrolled. The sail couldn’t take the loaded forces, so is effectively now in two pieces with a top and bottom half. At the time he was in a battle for fourth place with Jeremie Beyou on Charal in 35 knots of wind and mountainous seas, but the focus has very much turned to finishing the race, rather than battling for places. He has two jibs up sailing downwind, with one up each side to be best progress. Currently he has 1200 nautical miles to go to reach Les Sables d’Olonne. Sam has shown himself to be resourceful many times before, but this is greatest test so far. #vendeeglobe #vg2024 #sailing