Tonight the latest news from the Transat race team is that Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm was safely taken on board the tanker Emma, which diverted this afternoon to help after Stamm’s keel broke and his Open 60 capsized. From there transferred to the Canadian fisheries protection vessel Jean Charcot, which is heading back towards St Johns, where she is expected to arrive on Wednesday .

Considering what happened during the night, Stamm wonders if the keel bulb parted company first. He says he remembers surfing at 26-27 knots and the keel working ‘like a fish’. The true cause of the failure may never be known.