Photos courtesy Team Adventure

Photos courtesy Team Adventure



NEW YORK — The crew of Team Adventure provided
more details tonight of the circumstances that led to the bow
section breaking off their 110-foot sailing catamaran. The monster
catamaran's attempt to break the transatlantic west-to-east sailing
record ended dramatically today at 5:30 a.m. when the port bow
snapped off with a loud bang.

Photos courtesy Team Adventure

Photos courtesy Team Adventure



Crew member Stuart McKelvey, from New York City said he thought he
glimpsed floating debris that looked like the remains of a small
boat submerged in the waves seconds after the bow broke.

At the time the 110-foot catamaran was sailing at 30 knots in dense
fog and pre-dawn darkness. She was 110 miles south of Cape Sable,
Nova Scotia.

"There were only about five of us on deck. I was all the way aft on
the starboard side and I saw something in the water for a moment
before it was lost in the fog," McKelvey said. "It appeared to be a
small overturned fiberglass powerboat, maybe a 15 to 20-footer,
already broken up. It was floating just below the surface. It went
by so quick. I saw a red boot stripe (waterline marking) on a white
hull. That's what it looked like."

Photos courtesy Team Adventure

Photos courtesy Team Adventure



Skipper Cam Lewis said tonight that a survey of his stricken craft
showed impact damage to the bow at the waterline. Lewis said the
dagger board on the port side had also been damaged.

"I had just gone down to my bunk, under the helmsman on the
starboard side and I felt a bit of a bump followed by a noise,"
Lewis said. "Laurent Bourgnon was in the navigation station of the
port hull watching the radar and he was thrown forward and almost
hit his head."

No one was hurt among the 15-man crew and the boat was not in
immediate danger. She was proceeding back to the North American
mainland under her own power and was expected to take 24 to 36
hours to reach land.

For more information on Team Adventure, go to
www.TeamAdventure.org. Additionally, individuals wishing to
donate to the Team Adventure Education Foundation or corporations
looking for sponsorship opportunities should contact Larry
Rosenfeld at [email protected] or 1-781-639-1800.