#chinesegybe – This frightening video of a 'chinese gybe' was taken early this week on board a yacht taking part in the round-the-world Volvo Ocean race, as it encountered rough weather in the tumultuous Southern Ocean. The MAPFRE team's vessel did an involuntary "Chinese gybe," also known as a "death roll," while located about 2,000 miles from the nearest landmass. Two other teams did Chinese gybes on Monday into Tuesday in gale force winds and high seas, causing damage to some of the boats but no injuries.
MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP), pictured above, led the fleet over Point Nemo on Wednesday after an amazing recovery from their Chinese gybe just 24 hours earlier.
They were one of three boats – Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) were the others – to crash over on their side as the fleet struggled through a heinous sea state and 40 knots of wind (75kph) in the Southern Ocean.
