Hugo Boss damaged and de-masted in roll, structural damage as well

From Sailing Anarchy:

We’re extremely pleased to know Alex and Guillermo are safe ashore in Spain after they could presumably no longer keep up with the water ingress on the sinking Hugo Boss after her abandonment of the Transat Jacques Vabre.  The structure on the newHugo Boss continues to break down while Alex and Guillermo and the shore team are meeting as we speak to figure out if and how a salvage will happen.

While the 6 new VPLP/Verdier boats are the most complicated and technologically advanced ocean racing monos ever created, there are only a couple of really ‘new’ things about their structure: The foils and cases, which look to have been a major problem with one boat, and the ultra-thin rib-and-skin construction of the hull, which took out another.  It’ll be a little bit before we know which problem started Bossdown her cascade of failure, but one thing is for sure: With four out of five new boats broken, at least one of them catastrophically, the designers have a lot to answer for – something we look forward to from the typically pretty straightforward folks at both VPLP and Guillaume Verdier Design.  Note that these boats were built at at least three different facilities…

The fact that the fifth of the new foiling boats is streaking away from the rest of the IMOCA fleet at a ridiculous pace doesn’t really help; a small turn of fate and instead of being on shore, Alex and Guillermo are adrift in a raft.  Or lost forever.

Designers are finally starting to get around to accepting the fact that keels should not be ejectable.  Their next challenge?  Hulls need to be built to last past the first delivery.

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From Sailing Anarchy:

We spoke to  exhausted ATR Managing Director Stew Hosford a few minutes ago as he boarded a plane for Vigo, Spain, and he was glad to have the chance to update Alex and Guillermo’s fans around the world.  Here’s the exclusive report on what happened and what’s coming up from Mr. Clean.

1) As you may have already read in their early-morning statement, Alex and Guillermo were on their way back to port after a temporary fix of several broken ribs – the same problem noted by at least two new other VPLP/Verdier boats – when they were rolled and dismasted.

2) In fact they’d stopped the boat and were hove to on port during the little unforecasted bomb of a depression that developed off the NW coast of Spain two days ago.  Alex was asleep down below and Guillermo was on watch when a massive breaker capsized the boat.

3) From inside the boat, Alex found the canting button and moved the keel to the other side.  The boat snapped back upright, coming up without a rig and with plenty of new damage, including a broken foil.

4) The boat was full of water, the electronics were fried, and it was time to GTFO.

5) On reaching shore, all Alex could tell his technical crew was ‘I’m going to get my boat.”  The team wasted no time chartering an oceangoing tug, and they are already on station about 100 NM to the Northwest of La Coruña with Hugo Boss.

6) The dewatering is going well, the boat will be cleaned up and made as safe as possible today, then towed back to Spain overnight.

As soon as Alex has had a big of sleep and his boat is safe and sound, we’ll have an extensive interview.

Still no statement or word from VPLP or Verdier, who have a very difficult route to negotiate themselves right now.  Between the insurers, race organizers, teams, and the ocean racing community, Vincent and Guillaume have very few options in how they handle this situation if they are to avoid becoming known as the next JuanK.