PlayStation Gets Back in the Race

PlayStation, the 125-foot catamaran designed in Orange County, rejoined the around-the-world Race of the Millennium Thursday, pulling out of Gibraltar with a replacement mainsail after serving its 48-hour penalty for making an assisted stop.

PlayStation suffered two sail failures in the first two days of the race that started Sunday in Barcelona, Spain. The crew, which includes co-designer Gino Morrelli of Tustin, repaired a torn jib Sunday night, but when the mainsail was damaged beyond repair Tuesday, the boat was forced into port.

It’s uncertain how much distance PlayStation lost during its forced layover. Club Med, Team Adventure and Innovation Explorer, three 110-foot cats, were mired in light winds off Morocco for much of the time PlayStation was in port. If PlayStation, listed 352 nautical miles behind the leaders at midday Thursday, can find some wind, it could make up the margin quickly, said Stuart Radnofsky, media director for PlayStation skipper Steve Fossett’s sailing program.

“I just got off the phone with Stu Wilson, one of the crew, before they left and he said, ‘We’ll catch them,’ ” Radnofsky said.

Radnofsky said the presence on board of experienced sail makers Wilson and Nick Moloney will help if there are more sail problems.

The sails that ripped came from a new set made of Cuben Fiber by Halsey Lidgard Sailmakers in New Zealand. Radnofsky said no determination has been made about why the sails failed.

But John Gladstone of North Sails San Diego believes Cuben Fiber, a lightweight, high-tech synthetic material, isn’t durable enough to handle the stresses on a 5,000-square-foot mainsail like PlayStation’s.

Because of Tuesday’s mishap, PlayStation was forced to switch to its original mainsail, which was made by North Sails. That main has sailed more than 15,000 nautical miles and Gladstone isn’t certain that it will last for the 20,000-plus miles it will take to get PlayStation around the world.

North Sails hoped to make a new set of sails before the race, Gladstone said, but turned down the job when Fossett decided to go with Cuben Fiber instead of the heavier but more durable Spectra used previously. So four months before the start of the race, Fossett ordered sails from Halsey Lidgard.

“It’s really tempting and they went for it,” Gladstone said. “It was like changing tire and engine manufacturers with about a week to go before the Indy 500.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Back on Track

PlayStation, the 125-foot catamaran designed in Orange County, rejoined the round-the-world Race of the Millennium Thursday, pulling out of Gibraltar after suffering two sail failures. At midday, the craft was about 352 nautical miles behind the leaders.

Source: Morrelli & Melvin Design Engineering, Times reports