Ross Hobson and Andi Newman whose 50ft catamaran Mollymawk encountered mast problems on Saturday while competing in the Transat Jacques Vabre see previous news story here are now heading for Fernando de Noronha.

They made a decision early this morning when they realised the temporary repair they made to the base of the mast was not going to get them to Salvador de Bahia. At 0900 this morning they were at a position of 5 degrees, 17 minutes south, 32 degrees, 50 minutes west.

Chatting about the repair Hobson said: “We sailed into a cove on the NW corner of the island in flat water and anchored at 1700hrs, cut out the damaged area and repaired it using panels cut up out of odd wood (locker lids etc) on the boat – we used every spare panel – and almost started upon chart table! And it looked good.”