New Zealand solo yachtie Graham Dalton's Velux 5 Oceans round the world progress has slowed dramatically after his boat was damaged last night.
Dalton was in fourth position heading north off the coast of Brazil when he called the race control office to report having struck an unidentifiedobject.
Race officials said Dalton's yacht, A Southern Man, had slowed to an average speed of 3.4 knots after Dalton had to remove a damaged rudder blade.
He had changed direction and was heading towards the Brazilian coast.
Dalton had contacted his boat builder to try to find a way to stabilise the remaining rudder.
Japanese skipper, Kojiro Shiraishi, is leading the fleet and was last night about 500km west of Bermuda aboard Spirit of Yukoh with less than 700km to the finish line off Norfolk, Virginia.
