Yachting: Injuries put Team Adventure in doubt

Another giant catamaran was on the verge of quitting The Race last night after two of its crew landed in a Cape Town hospital.

Team Adventure was forced to pull into the South African port after the boat was damaged in the South Atlantic and the crewmen were injured.

Last night American skipper Cam Lewis was deciding whether to carry on racing with two less crew, after the rules said he could not take replacements on board.

American Jeffery Wargo has a strained neck and Mikael Lundh a fracture in his lower back. Both have been told to rest for at least two months.

Team Adventure will now have a crew of 12 - but that is only one less than the team aboard Grant Dalton's Club Med.

In the meantime, repairs continue on the 32m boat in case Lewis and his crew rejoin the race. If they withdraw, it will leave only four boats on the water.

Polish boat Warta Polpharma was yesterday heading to the island of Tristan da Cuhna after their transmission system broke down.

The crew want to send footage to the Polish television network, so they will do it from the island. They intend to make another stop in Wellington when they sail through Cook Strait to repair the system.

So far only two boats, Club Med and second-placed Innovation Explorer, have not had to make pitstops, with one-third of the race gone.

Dalton's boat continues to lead the fleet, 850 miles ahead of its French sister ship.

But last night the crew were being shaken about in the second storm in 48 hours in the chilly waters at 43 degrees south.

"We got a bit of a breather between gales," Dalton said. "But in this boat, we go faster than the weather, and we are catching up to fronts and then sailing past them.

"We are constantly getting over 35 knots of wind, and you can't use much power at all. You surf down waves and dig in at the bottom."

The only damage to Club Med so far is a ripped trampoline.

But Dalton is nursing a black eye after he was smashed in the face by a gas bottle below deck.

Club Med is now trying to put at least 1000 miles between it and the nearest boat, in case it sustains any serious damage in the next 10 days and has to stop in Wellington to fix it.

Dalton predicts he will be sailing through Cook Strait as early as Saturday week.