VOR: Team Brunel crew Annie Lush (GBR) injures back when boat hits wave on Leg 3

LEG 3, CAPE TOWN TO MELBOURNE – “A big wave came and I don’t know, it was really quick ... I had a big pain in my right-hand side and I couldn’t really move my right leg.’’ That was Annie Lush (GBR) in a video posted by Team Brunel after she and Peter Burling (NZL) were swept against the rear lifelines when their boat hit a wave during the weekend. Lush injured her back. The team said Burling is doing well.

Lush said she needed to get off the deck because the crew needed to gybe for the ice gate. “I couldn’t stand up and I tried to crawl but I couldn’t use my right leg at all,’’ Lush said. “In the end the guys had to drag me along the deck and then carry me downstairs into the bunk.’’

Both Lush and Burling were grinding at the aft pedestal, secured to the boat with their harnesses and safety lines, when the boat hit the wave. Lush is unable to join the watch system and is resting in her bunk. The boat is in contact with the doctors on shore.