Jonny Malbon

Tough times for Jonny as his mainsail delaminates still further, and yesterday suffered a one metre tear where all the scrim had flaked off, leaving the mesh exposed.

The ARTEMIS blog read:

“The Southern Ocean has claimed some high profile scalps this week

Solo sailor Jonny Malbon saw in the New Year as he was heading south of New Zealand but thoughts of parties were far from his mind. Instead, self preservation and keeping his boat in one piece have been top of the list for Jonny but it has not been easy for the British skipper who has had to contend with potential race ending mainsail issues.

Jonny’s main has slowly been de-laminating for the last three weeks, the worst part of which has now resulted in a one metre vertical hole. The de-lamination has got progressively worse recently and is anticipated to continue. The problem appears to have originated from the glue with which the sail is made. Jonny carries enough spares to effect a repair which he has now done but this is precarious - if Jonny pushes too hard the rip could extend and the whole sail could be split in two but if he does not push hard enough he will run out of repair materials before he can get to the finish.

This is not the way that Jonny had hoped to start the New Year and currently he has no intention of letting it ending his Vendee Globe dream but he commented from onboard: “At the moment the situation is not good. I don’t really know what to do other than to nurse the sail as best I can but by the same token I can’t slow completely as I may run out of materials to fix the thing, it is a fine line. I don’t want this to end my Vendee Globe and I will do anything and everything I can to ensure it doesn’t but it is going to be tough. Having come this far and got through what we have, I would be devastated for something like this to be the end of so much hard work so lets keep our fingers crossed?.”

As well as dealing with these issues it has been relentless and trying for Jonny as he has battled depressions that have brought difficult seas and heavy squalls no doubt putting pressure on the sail. The boat breaking conditions have claimed some high profile scalps this week as two of the front runners head for port. Jonny continued: “I have experienced my worst night yachting ever this week - we had 50+ knots and a terrible sea state. It then improved enabling me to ‘re-mount the horse’ but you never know how long it is going to last or when the next depression is coming so you have to take the bits of breathing space you can.”

For Jonny now, he is hoping that with the end of the festive period so the worst of this weather might be behind them and the start of 2009 may bring a little respite. With the leaders expected at the Horn around Sunday evening it is a comfort for the fleet to know that as they round it they will be on the homeward stretch. However, in the meantime Jonny is focused on getting there and making sure they do not become another statistic in this most brutal of races.”