YM editor Paul Gelder has just spent the day with the salvage team on Rangiroa, French Polynesia, watching ‘phase one’ of GMIV’s reef rescue operation: to make her watertight again. Sandbags and tyres were inserted beneath her so local salvage experts were able to apply patches to her hull – despite being washed by the waves breaking on the edge of the reef 25m away.
Phase two, ‘the critical stage’ begins at 0730 local time tomorrow when a Port Authority tug from Tahiti will attempt to tow Gipsy Moth off the reef, using giant scaffolding boards as a sacrificial skid. Watch this space for the results tomorrow?