News has just reached us that Jean Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec) has broken his boom. Dick apparently contacted the race office late last night to report that the outer end of the boom had cracked following windshift and an unexpected gybe.

The incident occured while the Farr design was in 35 knots of south-westerly wind in big seas. Virbac-Paprec is currently making for Cape Horn 1,000 miles away at an average of 9 knots under 4 reefs and trinquette. Still as determined as ever, JP hopes to make repairs as there is no question of him retiring. He is currently deciding on how to implement the repairs to see if and when the job is possible. “Cape Horn certainly merits its reputation!” the unlucky skipper said.