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Rudder trouble for Amer Sports Too

Essential repairs, but Amer Sports Too aims to press on

HOBART, Australia -- The all-women crew on the Volvo 60 Amer Sports Too suffered a fresh setback on Saturday after finding a crack in their rudder.

The crew had already made one emergency stop earlier in the day to take parts to repair the forestay which had broken in the middle of the Bass Strait during the Sydney to Hobart race, the first part of the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

"We believe we hit a shark and also possibly something else, which at the time, didn't seem too bad," said skipper Lisa Macdonald.

Amer Too was already more than 50 miles behind the rest of the Volvo fleet when it made its compulsory pit stop in Hobart.

A crew member went over the side to inspect the damage to the rudder which was found to be unsafe to make the crossing of the Tasman Sea to Auckland, where the third leg ends.

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Race rules do not allow outside assistance during the pitstop. So Amer Too had to leave Hobart, go to the restart line for leg three and begin the race before heading back to Hobart to lift the boat out and make repairs.

Macdonald and her crew still intend to complete the leg and score two points. They would then beat Team SEB who retired with a broken rudder.