Mike Golding aboard the Open 60 footer Ecover reported a problem with the keel at 1400 GMT. Mike is safe and the boat is secure. There is no immediate danger and Golding will endeavour to make the finish line. The conditions are moderate and expect to get lighter as he proceeds towards Les Sables d’Olonne. Golding is not anticipating he will arrive in Les Sables d’Olonne tonight. We will update when more information becomes available.
Race Manager, Denis Horeau had this to say at the official press conference this afternoon. "At 1530 GMT Ecover was at 52.5 miles West. He´s making a very slow speed, 2.5 knots boat speed on a compass heading of 151 degrees. It´s a difficult situation aboard and it is obvious that it is associated with the keel. We don´t know which degree the keel is canted at, 25 degrees, 35 degrees or 45 degrees. All we know is that he can´t see the keel. We don´t know whether he has dropped his sails or not and we don´t if he has filled the ballast. As we are a large organisation we have been able to call upon the services of ´Cross ETEL´ (coastguard). They are in contact with the Harbour Authorities. We are looking at finding a way to secure the situation with one of their boats, regardless of the fact that Mike Golding has not made any request for assistance. Today he is still racing and it is not impossible that he will be able to finish the race.
"Mike is not in danger. We do not know the situation with the keel, he continues. "At the point where we don´t know whether he has a keel then I would advise you not to speculate. All we know is that there is a problem with the keel. We know the position of the boat and the heading it´s making. It is likely that there is not a lot of wind and not a lot of sea."
Denis Horeau then adds: "Because we have a number of means at our disposal for the finish, we can also ask the commander of one of the frigate for the finish to go on station. As long as Mike doesn´t request our help we will not interfere."
Claire McNaughton, spokesperson for Ecover said that "Mike is being very careful about the outside assistance 'thing', they are not going to do anything." She added that she believed Mike "is making 3 knots of VMG at the moment and they expect the wind to go light and that will help. The problem is that it is upwind."
