Team Malizia’s Rosalin Kuiper suffered a head injury as they approached Cape Horn.
At around 09:00 UTC on Sunday 26 March, Kuiper was thrown from her bunk and hit her head just above her right eyebrow when the boat turned and slammed unexpectedly in heavy sea conditions.
She never lost consciousness in the incident and the crew were quick to come to her aid as it was clear she was bleeding badly from her eyebrow.
As Nico Lunven secured the boat to make it safe, Boris Herrmann contacted the shore to tell them what happened and then contacted the race doctor Spike Briggs from MSOS to confirm the best course of treatment.
Will Harris and Antoine Auriol cleaned and bandaged the area and have then continued to monitor Rosalin for worsening concussion symptoms every hour.
Rosalin has been doing her best to rest and the team has been monitoring her for the last hours.
In a message to Team Director Holly Cova a few hours after the incident Rosalin Kuiper said . . . “I will get over it, I look like Pirate Rosie now. The slamming (in the boat) is quite bad though and goes through my head but I think I will be OK. I am sleeping alot and the boys are looking after me really well.”
The boat team, shore team and The Ocean Race race control will continue to monitor Rosalin and will keep taking advice from Doctor Spike Briggs in order to make sure Rosalin is given the best possible care onboard.
Due to the remote location of the boat and the fact Rosie is in a stable condition the best option at the moment is to continue on.
Conditions are forecast to moderate and the motion on the boat should get progressively better into Monday UTC.
Earlier Antoine Auriol, the fly captain, had captured the wild conditions with his drone while Kuiper and Harris commented on the action.
