The yacht Mar Mostro was dismasted in the South Atlantic on 21st November 2011 during the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, and limped into Tristan to await rescue by the vessel Team Bremen.

Yacht Mar Mostro Crew at Tristan after Losing their Mast

Start from the top or scroll down for pictures and reports ~
and don't miss reading the thank-you letter from skipper Kenny Read below!
PUMA Ocean Racing Team yacht Mar Mostro is dismasted in the South Atlantic Ocean on 21st November
during Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, South Africa.
First Alert on 21st November
Gonzalo Infante (in charge of safety in the Volvo Ocean Race) contacted Tristan on 21st November alerting the island to the news that the American yacht Mar Mostro had lost her mast approximately 800 nm NW of Tristan da Cunha. In order to carry on with the next Leg (Cape Town-Abu Dhabi) they need to get to Cape Town before December 10th, and they will try to make the remaining 2300 nm with a jury rig and motoring. The problem is that they have not enough fuel for making such a trip and we are exploring the possibility of stopping in your Island.

Pictures from the yacht's website ( www.puma.com/sailing ) showing scenes on the Mar Mostro yacht on 21st and 22nd November

Mar Mostro arrives at Tristan
Report from Sean Burns at 08.00 on 26th November 2011

The fisheries patrol vessel Wave Dancer went out to escort the yacht Puma in at 0530. The Acting Chief Islander and I were aboard. After finding and securing her anchorage, 9 of the 11 crew came ashore at 0730 on our police RIB. They are now settling in to their accommodation, in good spirits and busy freshening up and tucking in to a good breakfast. We have opened up our shop (usually closed on Saturdays) so they can get emergency supplies.

 
I will be meeting the skipper in an hour or so to sort out arrangements for the coming days.
 
 
Pictures from Tina Glass of the yacht's arrival at Tristan on Saturday 26th November 2011
 
Further pictures
from Sean Burns
of Mar Mostro's arrival
on 26th November
Yacht Rescue
A rescue vessel 'Team Bremen' soon left South Africa aiming to take Mar Mostro and its crew aboard on Friday 2nd December to deliver to Cape Town for repairs as the yacht's crew hope to take part in Leg 2 of the race.

Watch this space for further news and pictures or visit their latest news on www.volvooceanrace.com

Meanwhile Mar Mostro's crew settled in to the social life on Tristan da Cunha,
with two of the eleven remaining on board the stricken yacht.
Above: Sean Burns' pictures of the crew Islanders and expats. at a golf match on 27th November

Pictures from
Tina Glass :

of the Mar Mostro
crew visiting
St Mary's School...

and enjoying a tour
of the fish processing factory
with manager
Erik McKenzie
on 28th November
 
 
 
Amazing scenes pictured by
Sean Burns on 2nd December
as the stricken yacht is accompanied
by two Tristan RIBS
to meet the rescue vessel Team Bremen
in the lee at Trypot
off the south-east coast of Tristan
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mars Mostro is then hoisted
on board by crane and the island rescue teams bid farewell to the crew
after Tristan has once again
played a major part
in the rescue of a vessel in distress
in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Message from Mar Mostro’s skipper Ken Read on 2 nd December talking about the crew’s six day visit:

It has been nothing short of an amazing experience. We have had time to acclimatise into island life. We have seen first hand how this group of people on the island live off the land and the sea, as well as off periodic shipments coming from South Africa. We have seen industry (lobster) and culture. We have spoken to kids and adults alike. We now appreciate the access we have to basic communication when on the mainland more than ever. Cell phones are a non-entity here. The internet café’s three computers get you emails at their own pace. And don’t even think about downloading an attachment no matter how small. Community communication happens with pieces of paper posted in certain key locations around the town.

I was sitting in the internet café alongside Brad yesterday getting our emails when all of a sudden a cow walked up to the narrow front door and stuck in her head. After looking around, she backed out and walked away. Brad suggested she was checking to see if a computer was free (which it wasn’t) to check her Facebook page. Welcome to Tristan.

Our team has really fallen for this place and its people. They have been nothing short of exceptional hosts. We owe them more than we could ever repay. They have given us hope as well as comfort in pretty trying times.

One thing that has really stuck out is the fact that they have very strict rules and abide by them without exception. It is what makes this place tick, I would imagine. It would be easy to simply have loose rules and much more of an anarchistic society given what they have to work with and the small number of people. But they don’t, and they stick to their governing authorities and rules and it solidifies a society that simply works.

To say thank you and goodbye to Tristan da Cunha will be difficult. It will be a bittersweet moment – a moment in time that we have been looking forward to because it means that we are off to hopefully rejoin the race that we are meant to be in. But, it will also mean saying goodbye to our new amazing friends most likely forever. But you never really know. Hope is a strange bedfellow. Hope that we can stay on schedule, and hope that someday our paths will cross again with some or all of Tristan’s wonderful population.

Thank you friends. May your cows get fat and your lobsters be plentiful. And, may your internet get speedy, but your culture never change.

Kenny

Ken Read ~ Skipper Mar Mostro

Follow the yacht's further progress (will she be repaired in time for the next leg due to start on 11th December?) on their website : www.puma.com/sailing