SAILING:THE ALBORAN Sea in the Western Mediterranean entered the annals of the Volvo Ocean Race as one of the most demanding stretches of water in the world at the weekend as it extracted a heavy exit toll on the six boats that started the first leg to Cape Town.

Within six hours of the start, Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team had fallen victim to near gale force winds and had suspended racing with a broken mast. Barely 12 hours later, former race winner Mike Sanderson on Team Sanya was limping to shelter with serious structural damage.

The four remaining entries edged towards what will now be regarded as the more familiar and friendly open Atlantic Ocean. But the Strait of Gibraltar may yet take its own tax and even before the race had started, some shore crews had already departed for Cadiz as a precautionary measure.

Still, racing last night were Spain’s Telefonica skippered by Iker Martinez, Kiwi Chris Nicholson’s Camper, American Ken Read on Puma and Franck Cammas’ Groupama 4 from France were evenly matched as they slugged it out for the lead.

Even counting Walker in the mix, predicting an overall winner from the five new boats is an impossible task and the safe money might be better advised to consider Greek sovereign bonds.

A spare mast located, in Amsterdam’s Schipol airport, the strategic centre of choice for despatch to remote parts of the world, was put on stand-by even before Walker’s team returned to Alicante with its rig in three pieces having been salvaged in complete darkness other than torchlight in a rough seaway.

But the initial operation to save the rig from sinking resulted in the hole in the hull and the boat captain Nick Dana had to jump into the water to release the locks holding the mainsail on the mast so the sails could be saved.

All teams have a strict limit on sail wardrobes for the entire race this year. Three days of round the clock work is likely before Walker and his crew, that includes Ireland’s Justin Slattery, can depart Alicante and chase the fleet. Perhaps they may even catch a weather window and slip through the strait unscathed this time.

But it seems Walker and his crew are certain to secure fifth place at least as Sanderson’s repairs appear likely to take much longer.

Team Sanya’s damage occurred yesterday morning 30 miles offshore in a seaway reported as high with 13.5 metre waves in the westerly gale. The second-generation 70-footer ploughed into a steep wave. “We knew immediately it wasn’t good,” said the skipper in oblique style that suggests they suspect significant damage.

All off-watch crew below decks immediately donned life-jackets and the bilge pumps were started. Watertight hatches to the forward compartment had already been shut and were holding firm as the team suspended racing and made for shore under reefed mainsail.

The first 24 hours is reminiscent of the 2005 race that was pounded by a gale on the first night while leaving Vigo in Galicia. Paul Cayard’s Pirates of the Caribbean was one of two victims then and was eventually forced to airlift the boat direct to Cape Town to continue racing after repairs.

It is all a far cry from the start of the race on Saturday afternoon when fresh winds kicked up a slight chop off the beach at Alicante that ensured the boats delivered a display of speed with plenty of water dousing the crews as if deliberately playing up for the live TV cameras and thousands of spectators.

Barely 10 miles of a spectacle course, but an essential display as this sport is often criticised in Spain for the exclusivity of the America’s Cup that has dominated professional sailing; this ocean racing stuff was more Moto GP than F1 remarked one observer.

The short course just a few hundred metres off the shoreline was also close enough for the boats to carry a guest crew-member – briefly – before they too had a taste of a full soaking. Football legend Zinedine Zidane sailed on Walker’s “Azzam” while Ireland’s Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney enthusiastically took the place with Sanderson.

Both Zidane and Coveney, dressed in survival suits and life-jackets, were obliged to “step overboard” at speeds of more than 30 kilometres an hour at the end of their jaunt – their crews weren’t slowing down for anyone.

As for the boats actually still in the race, last night the four had entered the Strait and were deciding on which route southwards towards the kinder trade winds would be the fastest.

The remainder of the 6,500-mile leg won’t be without its hazards, but a collective sigh of relief to escape the fate of their two rivals is certain.

Forensic analysis of the precise cause of both incidents may never reveal the precise cause. But nobody doubts that the pile-driving effect of a carbon-hulled yacht dropping from the crest of steep wave to the bottom followed by tonnes of water crashing along the deck in a cycle repeated every minute for hours, non-stop led to victory for these massive forces.

Better the boat to break than human bodies.