#VOR - One of Annalise Murphy’s Volvo Ocean Race teammates had a lucky escape when she got her leg caught in a rope during the Mirpuri Foundation In-Port Race in Lisbon yesterday afternoon (Friday 3 November).
While the Dee Caffari-skippered Turn The Tide on Plastic finished in last place in the hard-fought in-port scrap — as previously reported on Afloat.ie — that was not for want of trying, with the team making some of the boldest moves off the starting line.
But for Liz Wardley that effort could have been for nothing as one sight misstep on deck while attempting to resolve a slackening sheet resulted in her being dragged at great speed across the boat, as this dramatic footage shows:
The boat captain was quickly rescued by her teammate Henry Bomby and onboard reporter Sam Greenfield, but was left with some severe bruising on her right leg.
Wardley herself explained what happened: “We were doing a gybe and I had to try and get the J1 [sail] through without twisting the battens around the forestay, and there was a lot of slack in the sheet. It went around both my legs and it started pulling me overboard and I got stuck in the lifeline.
“I was just scared I was going to break my leg [but] a couple of people came to my rescue and got me untangled pretty quick, so thank you.”
Greenfield added: “The conditions of today's race were challenging, we were sailing at about 14 knots when Liz caught her leg around one lap of the sheet, the guard wire and another line that goes over – basically it was caught between three things.
“The whole thing happened very quickly, she shouted and I quickly ran forward not knowing what was wrong but soon guessed that it was a bad situation.
“Liz's leg is pretty bruised - there was enough load to do some damage. We had to get her leg out of the guard wire and take the loop off. I'm just glad she's okay.”
While the in-port races are scored separately from the ocean legs, the series is used as a tie-breaker in the final points tally, so teams will take the discipline very seriously.
The races themselves are short, action-packed and held as close as possible to land. Winning the start is often the key to victory.
Be sure to tune in to the Volvo Ocean Race website tomorrow lunchtime (Sunday 5 November) for live coverage before the start of Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Lisbon to Cape Town at 2pm Irish time.
