B&Q has suffered damage to her central bow after being struck by a motor launch whilst berthed at East Cowe Marina.

On Sunday morning (8.5.05) a Nelson motor launch struck the 75ft trimaran directly on the central bow damaging the sacrifical crash box as it was trying to manoeuvre on to the dock at East Cowes. No one was hurt in the incident and B&Q’s boat captain, Loik Gallon, was on board at the time.

“It’s a busy river here and these things can happen,” said Ellen. “The main thing is no one was hurt. The focus is now getting her repaired and back in the water,” said B&Q skipper, Ellen MacArthur.

The boat team headed up by Technical Director, Neil Graham, have had time to assess the damage further today (Monday 9.5.05): “The damage is confined to the crash box which is a crush zone designed to take impact from submerged or partially submerged objects. Whilst this area is not critical, structurally, it is quite a long job to repair as we will have to replace virtually the whole nose and then respray the forward 3 to 4 metres of the bow,” said Graham. “To effect the repair the trimaran will have to come out of the water and into a shed.” The team are currently investigating options around the Solent and the repair time, including cosmetics, is estimated to take two weeks.

It is hoped that this incident will not have any significant impact on the trimaran’s programme, although it will depend on the length of the repair.

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