NOS Sport•
Kuiper sustained a serious injury in a sailboat: ‘Slid down six meters after that’
It is often hard work on board a ship that participates in the illustrious Ocean Race. And not without risk, as the past has shown. But sleeping is also not harmless, as Rosalin Kuiper has discovered.
The member of Team Malizia, and the only Dutch participant in the prestigious sailing race, fell right out of bed when the German boat ran into heavy weather near Cape Horn during the third leg and had to deal with a high wave. The damage: a profusely bleeding wound above her right eyebrow and a concussion.
Pirate Rosie
Her teammates immediately took care of the 27-year-old from Zoetermeer, who, having recovered from the initial shock, also saw the humor in it. “I look like pirate Rosie now,” she joked. “But I think it will be fine. The boys take very good care of me and I sleep a lot.”
For example, Kuiper and teammates navigate the sea at the southernmost point of South America
The third leg takes the four participating boats in the Ocean Race from Cape Town via the southern Chilean Cape Horn to the Brazilian Itajaí. Team Malizia is in the lead in the 12,750 nautical miles (more than 23,600 kilometres) longest stage in the fifty-year history of the yachting race.
It was not the first physical misfortune that Kuiper, the only woman on the boat of the German skipper Boris Herrmann, had to deal with during the sailing competition. She suffered from ringing in the ears, slept badly and had to vomit regularly due to the turbulent weather.
