At 5:15am, Jean-Pierre Dick called his technical team to explain the strop (a soft shackle) which attached the forstay to the deck had broken. At the time of the incident, Virbac-Paprec 3 was sailing upwind in 30 knots of wind, with two reefs in mainsail and the staysail up. Jean Pierre immediately put the boat downwind to stabilize the situation and began work on the repair.
