Pete Goss in his own words ...

There has been much speculation over the last few days. Pete Goss endeavours to answer your questions from the Team Philips website forum.

About time, you would seem to be saying from what I can glean from the comments across the forum. Indeed the frustration seems to be such that someone has started putting comments on forum on my behalf. This seems a tad mischievous as it brings the whole ethos of what we are doing with the forum into question. It is not something that can be policed so anything that I put on the forum will also go the main web page so that you can all cross reference for your own piece of mind.

I am afraid I don't have time to go through every area of the forum as it is a busy time so I have decided to answer the questions that I see as relevant in one go. (Some of the following are a hybrid of what's there).

Why are we dragging our feet with conclusions and time lines?

The truth is that we lifted the masts out on Saturday evening (not bad when it was all put together without warning), our first full day on the job was Monday and its now Wednesday - we have to find out the real reason, not a knee jerk reaction. It will take time but be assured we want to know as much as you do.

What do we know?

The bearing cup in the base of the mast which sits on the titanium ball in the bottom of the boat has separated from the port mast. The result was that the mast dropped on to the base structure in the bottom of the boat but did not shift about to a great deal as the ball was captive within the side walls of the mast. The damage in the hull is minimal, primarily on the forward bulkhead but should be no more than four to five days work. It seems that the cup 'gripped' the ball so restricting movement and twisting itself off.

Early days and a lot of thought required to get to the bottom of it. It is however solvable and may take up to six weeks before we sail again - some of this is thanks to logistics of a boat of this size. It takes a good ten days put her together again - mast stepping, wishbones, sails, blocks etc etc.

Who is on the case?

The team - Barry Noble, Martyn Smith, Adrian Thompson, Graham Goff and a number of others with specific expertise.

Was it damaged in stepping or some such other incident?

The short answer is no, it's always fun moving things of this size and there are times where it doesn't go quite to plan but there has been no damage incurred.

Did I know the port mast was unstable early on and ignore it in the interests of PR?

I am amazed that anyone could think that the project and those of us with responsibility within it should be driven by publicity. The boat comes first - always has done and always will. PR follows it and does so thanks to a dedicated team working in your interests. It is true to say that it is very close behind, perhaps it is this that causes confusion but we set out to have an open and transparent project that would share this adventure as it unfolds. I'm proud of what has been achieved but feel I ought to point out that it is not a novel that will deliver the next sentence when called for. It is very real with good people putting untold red eye'd effort into making this thing happen. If they don't fully know what went wrong then we all have to wait until they do. Anything we put out prior to that can only be speculation.

I for one will maintain our open honest ethos - if others wish to leapfrog reality then there is nothing I can do about it bar ask we be judged by our track record. I hope to have an idea by the end of this week - but here we go I've set a precedent that I may not be able to keep as I don't have a crystal ball. What I do have is a good team who will get there as quickly as is possible.

Have we sold an exclusive to the Mail on Sunday? Of course not, I would hope that by now the value we place on openness and non exclusivity are obvious enough to have a degree of faith placed on them. Mike Calvin is on the crew and he chose to put his interpretation of the incident with the port mast and its implications to him personally in his paper - it's a free country. For a different view try reading Grahams Goff's.

How do I feel?

Under pressure but good. Team Philips proved to be fantastic 0 - 20 knots in ten seconds under half power will do me for starters but read Grahams article - she works. It was never going to be easy and none of us are about to give up at this stage. We are on the final straight and we have a boat worth the effort and having stirred a gritty determination she will get the best out of all of us.

There is no doubt that it's now down to Team Philips. She has to prove herself. Safety will always come first and the decision to go or not rests with me. We'll see, we have no commitments to anything but her work up. My bones tell me its on and I'm excited by the prospect of the race, its been a long time coming.

My apologies for taking so long to write this but my feet haven't touched the ground. You guys and your genuine interest are one of the things that keep us going, we would never wantonly ignore you.

More Information:

• Team Philips Website