Guyot environnement, Team Europe recover torn spinnaker

Skipper Robert Stanjek says his Guyot environnement - Team Europe recovered a torn sail after it burst and fell into the water.

Watch the recovery here

"We were sailing under spinnaker at about 15 knots of speed. We were sailing our A2, our big nylon sail, the most fragile one we have on board. I was off watch sleeping and then we had an alarm. Everybody had to get on deck because the kite broke.

"We were surprised because it was not that windy. We don't know why, but the sail tore almost from top to foot. The whole team did a good job to overcome the crisis. We stopped completely and put the boat upwind, then we caught the pieces of sail that were flying around the foil and the big piece that was floating in the water. There was maybe ten per cent of the sail left at the top. We managed to get everything back and not leave anything in the water. We also had to pull the sheets out from under the foil. It took us about 8 or 10 minutes to get everything back on board. A record time. We then set the A3. The team did a great job!

"It's a shame to lose the sail so early in the leg, especially now because we're sailing in 6 knots of wind. Our last option didn't pay off, we will probably lose some ground. But there are still 2500 miles to Cape Town, our motivation is still intact and we will fight until the end."

Apart from the spinnaker issue, Guyot environnement has seen its lead steadily erode over the past 24 hours as their opposition to the west is in better pressure and making faster miles to the south.