Boat communications breakdown hampers Spanish boat
© María Muiña/MAPFRE
Spanish boat “MAPFRE” is ‘sailing blind’ in Leg 4 after a communications problem on board prevented them receiving key weather and other data.
Race Control was alerted to the problem over the weekend and has since worked with their suppliers and the boat to find a solution.
It is not clear exactly what has caused of the issue, which involves two antennae not functioning.
The boat can send and receive plain text but cannot receive weather data. This has impacted their ability to make strategic decisions. They are sailing blind.
In a message from the boat, “MAPFRE”’s OBR Francisco Vignale, wrote: “We only have an email account which works. Jean Luc, our navigator, is very limited in his work and can not forecast or work out future routes.”
Additionally, the crew is unable to send out images or videos.
Vignale added: “The main thing is that we’d like to say that we are all well, despite not being able to talk with our families. Each one of us wants to send a big ‘hi’ to our nearest and dearest. We hope to solve this problem as quickly as possible – there’s still a long way to go in this leg.”