The leading boats in the Barcelona World Race have entered the ‘Furious Fifties’, that region south of 50-degrees latitude where the wind and waves roar around the planet uninterrupted by land.

But overnight, the fourth-placed boat, Delta Dore, was knocked out of the race after being dismasted. Both sailors, Jérémie Beyou and Sidney Gavignet, are in good health and were uninjured when the mast crashed to the deck. Fortunately, both were below at the time as skipper Jérémie Beyou explained.

"Sidney was at the navigation station and I was sleeping, but not really sleeping. We both heard this big crack and I asked Sidney, 'What is that?' And he told me, 'I don't know but it's a major.’ He had a quick look outside and he told me, 'It's the mast, it's the mast!'”

With the carnage on deck threatening the integrity of the hull, the two sailors had no choice but to cut the damaged rig free. They lost the entire mast and boom in the process, and have had to be very inventive in coming up with a jury rig that will help get the boat to South Africa, some 850 nautical miles away. They have rigged up a small sail using spare battens and the raised daggerboard for support and are making 3.5 knots towards the African coast. Both sailors are bitterly disappointed that their race has ended this way.

“When PRB broke their mast I spoke about the importance of the guys being safe more than anything else in this race, and now here we are in exactly the same situation. Suddenly we are not looking at things from the outside or speaking so lightly about the facts,” wrote Sidney Gavignet, about 12 hours after the dismasting. “I feel very empty. All of this - for nothing! It is a feeling of not having finished anything, of it all having been useless. Now we are just up against ourselves rolling around in the waves…The position report comes in and I can see how the rest of the fleet is moving away. It brings a lump to my throat. I really have nothing more to say. I really believed in this adventure, I was waiting for it be our moment, I had real faith…I’m going to miss writing to you. We wish good wind for those who are left in the race…”

For the boats still racing, the conditions are getting colder with each hour. Paprec-Virbac 2, the race leader, has added to its lead and entered the ‘furious fifties’. Skipper Jean-Pierre Dick wrote in to say the water temperature was now less than 4-degrees Celsius, meaning growlers (relatively small – but still dangerous – bits of ice that break off bigger icebergs and drift around the southern latitudes) are now a real possibility.

Behind, both Veolia Environnement and Hugo Boss are pressing hard, trying to catch the leader and the latest position report has them south of 50-degrees as well. While further back, Temenos II and Mutua Madrileña have been struggling in lighter, upwind conditions. Temenos II has now escaped and is racing along at 15 knots. But Mutua Madrileña is still battling upwind.

“(We’ve lost) nearly 400 miles to the leaders and the counter continues to rise,” said a frustrated Javier Sansó. “Our spirits on board have been a little dampened by 48 hours of constant upwind sailing at 9 or 10 knots, whilst seeing that the rest of the fleet, particularly Temenos II who is only 250 miles from our bow, have got out of the calm spot that is holding us back.”

PRB has reached Cape Town and retired from the Barcelona World Race, while Estrella Damm is still en-route and has its shore crew setting up in Cape Town to make repairs and get the boat back into the race.

Day 31 – December 11, 16:00 GMT – Position report with distance to leader

1. PAPREC-VIRBAC 2 - Jean Pierre DICK / Damian FOXALL – 0

2. VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT - Roland JOURDAIN / Jean Luc NELIAS - 142

3. HUGO BOSS - Alex THOMSON / Andrew CAPE - 217

**4 - DELTA DORE - Jérémie BEYOU / Sidney GAVIGNET - 645

5. TEMENOS 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele PARET- 886

6. MUTUA MADRILENA - Javier SANSO / Pachi RIVERO - 1475

8. ESTRELLA DAMM - Guillermo ALTADILL / Jonathan MCKEE - 1834

9. EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS - Servane ESCOFFIER / Albert BARGUES – 2190

Abandoned - PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien JOSSE