In a heartbreaking turn of events, skippers Vincent Riou and Sébastien Josse aboard PRB are almost certainly out of the Barcelona World Race. This morning, the team which has been alternating the race lead with Paprec-Virbac 2 over the past three weeks, lost the top three metres of its mast, making it impossible to continue racing. Both skippers are safe and the boat is now sailing towards Cape Town.
They were sailing at about 20 knots under the big gennaker (and with a reef in the mainsail) and they were down below with the auto-pilot on looking at the weather conditions, when the boat hit a wave and heard a crack. The two skippers thought it had broken a halyard or something. They went on deck and saw the main sail still in place but the top part of the mast hanging down.
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