Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) and François Gabart (FRA) contacted Barcelona World Race Course Direction at around 0349hrs UTC (0449hrs CET) to report that the top of the mast of their IMOCA Open 60 had broken at close to 0300hrs UTC (0400hrs CET).

Foncia, lying in second place, had been sailing under mainsail with one reef and staysail in 30 knots of SW’ly wind. The crew have reported that they are both OK and the duo are sailing towards Cape Town initially at around 10 knots.

The top of the mast is reported to have broken off between the Solent forestay and the staysail forestay. The broken section of the mast is saved on the deck, leaving around 24 metres of mast remaining. There is no other damage noted.

The position of the boat was around 41 deg 13S 09 deg 03E at a distance from Cape Town of 619 miles

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