Slats breaks rib in Golden Globe Race. Will the 2nd place skipper be the next to drop out?
A broken rib threatens to knock yet another 2018 Golden Globe Race skipper for small sailboats from the ever dwindling field. Dutchman Mark Slats suffered two knockdowns and informed race headquarters in Hobart, Australia on UTC 14:00 on October 15, 2018, that he broke a rib from a “flying” toolbox. He was caught unawares by 30-35 knot conditions after sailing in light airs.
Mark Slats narrowly avoided the dismastings of the previous 3rd and 4th place boats skippered by Abhilash Tomy and Gregor McGuckin. In that violent storm Slats was knocked down several times and washed overboard. He was saved from being separated from his sailboat by his harness.
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The arrow points to the first-place French skipper Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, but second place Dutch skipper Mark Slats in the back row in black has a broken rib. 2018 Golden Globe Race – GGR skippers congregate in Les Sables d’Olonne. Back row left to right: Uku Randmaa (EST), Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (FRA), Loic Lepage (FRA), Mark Slats (NED), Gregor McGuckin (IRE), Igor Zarertsjiy (RUS), Mark Sinclair (AUS),Tapio Lehtinen (FIN), Ertan Beskardes (GBR), Abhilash Tomy (Ind), Susie Goodall (GBR) Front row: Istvan Kopar (USA), Are Wiig (NOR), Kevin Farebrother (AUS), Antoine Cousot (FRA), Nabil Amra (PAL); Christophe Favreau/PPL/GGR
Slats is in second place and has been slipping thousands of miles behind race leader 73-year old Frenchman Jean-Luc Van Den Heede. The 5-time cirumnavigator Van Den Heede passed north of Stewart Island on the southern tip of New Zealand. The race leader went through the dangerous Fouveaux Straight at night to be the first boat to pass New Zealand.
Of the eighteen skippers starting the solo-nonstop retro race, only eight are still in the field. Three boats have been dismasted. Seven other skippers have made unsactioned stops or retired completely. Only Van Den Heede has reached the half-way point of Hobart, Tasmania.
