Dee Caffari’s Open 60 Aviva was dismasted in the dark hours before dawn this morning in 45-50 knots of headwinds and a heavy sea, some 160 north-west of La Coruña. The boat fell off a large wave and the mast toppled over the port side.

She is now waiting for a tow, which is being arranged by her shore team. It will be a hard, tiring night keeping watch for shipping and trying to keep busy. Dee was pretty low on fuel, and anyway her boat has only a 27hp engine – about as much use as an egg beater.

You can read more and see a photo from Aviva on Elaine Bunting’s blog and listen to Elaine’s podcast with Dee describing the dismasting and explaining her current situation in this podcast on the Aviva website.