VOR News: Team Vestas

This graphic picture shows the stricken Team Vestas Wind lying in a reef in a remote Mauritius archipelago of St Brandon after being grounded there at the weekend.

The team and race organisers are now working out the best way to recover the Volvo Ocean 65 in the Indian Ocean.

Neil Cox, shore manager of the Danish team, said: “The photo paints a pretty graphic picture of what’s going on out there. The picture tells a 1,000 words.”

He said his focus was still the security of the nine members of the crew.

“We have still got nine guys sitting on what is basically a sand pit out in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

“They are still the priority. It’s a peace of mind to know they’re all safe and doing everything they can out there with the boat right now.”

Cox said that sail ropes, fluids, electronics and hardware had been taken off the boat.

The nine-strong crew abandoned ship in the early hours of Sunday morning after the collision at 19 knots at 1510 GMT the previous day and waded through knee-deep water to a dry position on the reef.

They were picked up from there at daylight by a coastguard rib and taken to the nearby Íle du Sud.
The islet has very little communications with the outside world and the crew are awaiting transportation back to Mauritius. This is expected to happen within the next 24 hours.

The National Coast Guard of the Maritime Rescue Co-operation Centre (MRCC) of Mauritius took the pictures as part of its usual operations after such an incident.

The crew have received food packages via an airdrop from a coastguard plane. It confirmed that all were uninjured in the collision.

All nine members of the Danish team were uninjured in the drama, which unfolded from 1510 UTC on Saturday when their Volvo Ocean 65 hit the reef in Cargados Carajos Shoals, Mauritius.

The rudders were broken in the collision and the stern began taking on water - although the stern compartment was locked tight.

Finally, at around midnight, the team led by skipper Chris Nicholson abandoned the boat and then waded, knee-deep through the sea to a dry spot on the reef from where they could be rescued by a coastguard RIB at daybreak at around 0230 UTC.

They were transported to the tiny islet of Íle du Sud, part of Cargados Carajos Shoals, which is also known as St. Brandon and situated some 430 kilometres to the north-east of Mauritius.

Race organisers and Team Vestas Wind will now attempt to take them from there to the mainland. Race Control in Alicante, Spain kept the Maritime Rescue Co-Operation Centre (MRCC) informed throughout the incident.

Team Vestas Wind’s rival race crew, Team Alvimedica, diverted to assist in a rescue mission if necessary but after several hours looking on from a safe distance away, were eventually cleared to continue racing north after it was apparent that the Vestas crew were no longer in danger.

Navigator Will Oxley sent this report from Team Alvimedica: “All is well on board, though it is fair to say we are all shattered and quite emotional about what happened.