Yachting: Camper bowman injured, Puma retire leg

Mike Pammenter, right, suffered a broken tooth and a gash to the face. Photo / Hamish Hooper/CAMPER ETNZ

Bowman Mike Pammenter broke a tooth and suffered facial injuries when he was thrown around Camper in rough conditions on the Volvo Ocean Race today.

But his damage is less serious than that suffered by Puma, which broke a mast.

Pammenter suffered a broken tooth, gash to the face and various bumps and bruises after being thrown into the boat's shrouds while moving forward to do a sail change.

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He was immediately stabilised by onboard medic Tony Rae and, after further medical advice from Volvo Ocean Race headquarters, received three stitches and had the affected tooth area anaesthetised.

Skipper Chris Nicholson said that after initially slowing down to assess and treat the injuries, Camper is now back to full pace.

"We buttoned off and headed downwind for a while but, now that Mike has been stabilised and is in OK shape, we're back into racing," Nicholson said. "Mike will have one or two watches off and then will be back into things.

"This sort of injury shows the extreme nature of this race and while we take all due care there's still a pretty high degree of risk in pushing these boats hard in these types of conditions. That's just part of the race - you don't want it but you can't avoid it. These boats are on the edge a bit but that's what they're meant to be."

It was a dramatic few hours for the Volvo fleet with second-placed boat Puma breaking its mast over the same period in the 20 to 23-knot winds.

They are about 2150 nautical miles from the end of the first leg in Cape Town and skipper Ken Read said they were assessing their options, which included heading to the island of Tristan da Cunha about 700 nautical miles away.

"We were sailing on a port tack, beam reaching in 22-23 knots of breeze, heading east northeast with eight to 10 foot waves when the mast failed," he told volvooceanrace.com.

"There were no warning signs. There was no panic onboard, and all crew are safe and well.

"Thanks to amazing seamanship, the three pieces of the mast and all of the sails were recovered. We haven't suspended racing at this point and are weighing our options.

"At this point we are not using our engine, but are taking some time to clear our heads and evaluate next steps. Our plans may include heading to the island of Tristan da Cunha - about 700 nautical miles from us, nearly on the way to Cape Town.

"This is the saddest and most disappointed 11 people on earth. We were in a comfortable second position, travelling south to get into the final front and head across the southern Atlantic towards Cape Town.

"We were planning to be there in five days. At this stage, my goal is to make sure we get this crew back safely and we will look at options as to how to get back in this race."

They aren't the first to suffer extensive damage. Both Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Sanya withdrew early in the leg after the fleet were battered on the opening 24 hours of racing and only three of the six boats are still racing.

Puma's misfortune helped Camper's cause and they will soon move into second when they overtake Puma. Telefonica still lead the race, 98 miles ahead of Camper. Groupama are last on the water, 284 miles behind.