Leg 7 Qingdao crew member, Diane Morrison, has an injury to her eye that needs a full medical evaluation.
The injury first appeared very mild but on further consultation with physicians at PRAXES, the race’s Global Medical Emergency Support Partner, the Clipper Race has been advised that full medical evaluation on shore is required.
The injury was reported to the Clipper Race Office team at 1800UTC on 12 May and a case was opened with PRAXES. With no further improvement in the past few days, it has been mutually decided that Qingdao will need to divert to Mexico for Diane to receive a full medical assessment.
The team is approximately 440nm (two days) away from the nearest obvious landfall, Marina Cabo San Lucas, located at the southern tip of Baja California peninsula which is en route.
Since the early hours of Sunday morning, the Clipper Race Office team has been managing the situation and has been in contact with NMOC (National Maritime Operations Centre) Fareham and they are in contact with MRCC Mazatlán, Mexico and other SAR (search and rescue) authorities to explore all possible options.
The Mexican Coastguard has good airlift capability and another suitable option would be to facilitate a boat transfer when Qingdao is nearer to land. There is a maximum range of approximately 100nm for this second option. Therefore, there is a possibility that Qingdao may not have to make landfall but we will update further once more information is available.
Qingdao has been instructed to continue racing, but to shape a course more closely to the area of Marina Cabo San Lucas. Further updates will be made once the Clipper Race team has more information from the SAR stations / NMOC Fareham.
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