POOLE sailor Pip Hare was forced to transition out of full race mode during the Vendee Globe competition after discovering a crack in her port rudder.

The round-the-world yachtsman reported serious damage to her boat’s rudder in one of the most remote oceans in the world on Thursday January 7.

It has meant a suspension of racing to prevent further damage while Pip waited for the rough seas to die down and she could attempt to fix the problem.

During routine checks on the boat, Pip discovered a crack in the rudder housing on Medallia’s port, or left-hand, side.

Pip said: “If I continue sailing hard the stock will fail under load in a matter of hours.

“Naturally I am completely devastated about this failure and what it means to my race but the only thing to do right now is to put the racing on hold and focus on solving this problem to keep both me and Medallia safe.”

After reporting the damage to the Vendee Globe race organisers, Pip then worked with her Technical Director, Joff Brown, to meticulously plan how to fix the problem.

Pip carries a spare rudder on board, but replacing the damage one in heavy seas, on a moving boat is not easy.

With the additional advice of professional sailor Paul Larson, Pip and Joff came up with a plan. All they needed was a weather window of calmer seas and lighter wind.

On Thursday night, at about 10pm UTC, that weather window appeared, and Pip prepared to replace the damaged rudder with her spare.

The procedure is difficult and dangerous, with the boat constantly moving, the rudder is heavy and unwieldy, and the risk of causing further damage to the boat – or herself – is constant.

She said: “I think the whole procedure took about an hour and a half with many hours of preparation and packing up before and after. My heart was in my mouth for the whole time.

“But once I was committed to doing it there was nothing that was going to get in my way.

“There were some tough moments and I had to plead with my boat and the ocean a couple of times but when that new rudder stock finally came shooting up through the deck level bearing, the out-loud whooping that came from me could easily have been heard for miles around...if anyone had been there to hear it.”

Joff Brown, the team’s Technical Director, added: “This is one of the things we really didn’t want to do during the race – replacing a rudder is difficult enough in a marina, let alone in the Southern Ocean where waves are notoriously big and you’re miles from any help if things go wrong.

“But Pip is a meticulous planner and incredibly determined – if anyone could do it, I knew it was her.

“Even so, it’s been a stressful couple of days and I’m incredibly relieved that she successfully changed the rudder – and delighted that she’s back in the race.”

Pip is now back on the pace and making up the ground she lost. She remains in 15th place and is chasing the pack in front of her.

“'m now back in the game, the breeze has filled in and Medallia is humming along at 15 knots and I can't quite believe that I did that,” she said.

“Now can I please have a pass out of the Southern Ocean? I think I am done here now.”