Earthrace. Photo / Suppplied
Earthrace crew, their support staff and sponsors who came to their rescue have found their "miracle" in Singapore, and now hope to resume their attempt on a round-the-world record, says operations manager, Adrian Erangy.
They still hope to beat the existing record of nearly 75 days by returning
to Spain to complete their circumnavigation, he told the powerboat-world.com website.
"The entire team have pulled together a miracle in Singapore," Mr Erangy said.
Staff at a salvage shipyard, Posh Semco, helped lift Earthrace - weighing 19 tonnes - from the water at the weekend to repair a shattered propeller, and driveshaft, and cracked bearings and brackets.
The boat took a week to limp to Singapore on one engine after hitting a submerged object, possibly a log, 4000km to the east in Micronesia, at Palau.
"We have completed our repairs and now hope to have 14 days left at sea to get the record," Erangy said. A new propeller shaft had to be machined by engineers.
The boat and support crews worked round the clock over the weekend to finish the repairs 12 hours earlier than expected.
They were due to test the boat's engines early today, then conduct a short sea-trial before re-fuelling and heading for Cochin, in India, if the repairs are seaworthy.
The boat has up to 35 days to get back to Sagunto, north of Valencia, to beat the 1998 Cable & Wireless World record of 74 days, 23 hours 53 minutes, but skipper Pete Bethune, of Auckland has said he wants to "smash" the record rather than just beat it.
- NZPA
