• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Let's all take a moment

Seth

Sustaining Partner
As I nurse my sore muscles after a hard fought regatta here in the Midwest-our first of the season, and today in very rough and cold conditions (2,2,1,1), I was thinking as we surfed across the finish line about the boys on AMRO Two, who after the loss of crewmate Hans Horrovoets (lost overboard running at close to 30 knots, miraculously recovered, but could not be resuscitated), still had the fortitude to turn around to save the boys from Moviestar, which had to be abandoned due to a leak at the rear keel hinge that could not be controlled. With the body of their mate still on board, these guys performed the flawless rescue of ten other sailors in trouble, and the entire crew from Moviestar plus the remaining crew on AMRO turned to continue sailing towards Portsmouth-what a sad time this must be for all of them....

It is so easy to take for granted the sea and the beauty and thrill of sailing, and we must guard against this. I had my crew in full harness gear all day today, and any time we start thinking conditions MIGHT call for this, that means it is time to do it.

Please keep a good thought, prayer, or whatever it is you do when thinking of others for the crews of both boats-celebrate their skill and compassion, and honor the memory of Hans and those who have gone before him by making certain every time you leave the dock that your crew are safe, your boat is well found, and that you are making the right decisions about the conditions you will sail in.

Sorry to bring things down, but this has weighed on me for the last 2 days and I wanted to share it with you.

Be safe,

S
 
Last edited:

Mindscape

Member III
Well said

"...Please keep a good thought, prayer, or whatever it is you do when thinking of others for the crews of both boats-celebrate their skill and compassion, and honor the memory of Hans and those who have gone before him by making certain everytime you leave the dock that your crew are safe, your boat is well found, and that you are making the right decisions about the conditions you will sail in."


I think Seth said it better than I could of.
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
I am a loss for words, but I am reminded of the 98 Hobart.

Brave men, all of them! They have been through so much, now this. Hard to accept.
 

Roger Ware

Member III
Seth - like you said

Seth, you put it very well, and I have nothing to add but to agree. But, I am mystified by one thing - all the websites, including the official VOR one, no mention anywhere of what happened to Movistar - the boat. Towed, salvaged, anyone see anything?

Roger, Kingston, ON
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Here what happened to Moviestar, see 5th Paragraph!

Sun, 21 May 2006 14:05:00 UTC

Following a night of fighting their keel problems after the aft end of their keel pivot bearing broke away from the hull, Bouwe Bekking and his crew have abandoned their vessel and have safely transferred to ABN AMRO TWO which has been standing by since approximately 2200GMT last night.

The crew used the liferaft to transfer safely between the two yachts. Bekking ((NED), and his crew, Andrew Cape (AUS), Chris Nicholson (AUS), Jonathan Swain (USA), Mike Joubert (RSA), Noel Drennan (IRL), Pepe Ribes (ESP), Peter Doriean (AUS), Stuart Bannatyne (NZL) and Fernando Echavarri (ESP) are now all safely aboard ABN AMRO TWO and are heading for land.

The transfer was completed in the eye of the low pressure system that is passing over, when winds dropped to seven knots. The forecast is for winds of up to 50 knots to come in from the west imminently, which hastened the decision to abandon movistar.

Throughout the night the crew of movistar had worked to stabilise their Volvo Open 70 by securing the 4,500 kg canting with ropes, and had achieved some degree of success. They had managed to keep the water ingress under control and even apply some cant to enable the boat to make progress towards Lands End. At the time the crew transferred to ABN AMRO TWO, they were 307 miles west south west of the south western extremity of England.

Food and personal items were transferred with the crew. movistar has been left with her generator running and her Sat C communications system operational so that she can be tracked for as long as possible.

Outside assistance was on its way to the two yachts, the Royal Navy having immediately responded to a request for help by sending the Fisheries Patrol vessel HMS Mersey, a River Class Offshore Patrol vessel from Milford Haven in Wales. HMS Mersey is heading for a rendezvous with ABN AMRO TWO with all possible speed, should be with them in about eight hours and will shepherd then to the nearest coast.
 

Roger Ware

Member III
This was my point

Jeff, I did see this, but that was 48 hours ago. That's a long time with an $$$million dollar boat drifting in the Atlantic. And if the keel broke off completely, it may not even be upright. Cheers, Roger
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
MovieStar

The lastest news I have is that a plane was out searching for her today. The beacons went silent at 10:00 pm Sunday night GMT-early yesterday morning, which may indicate she has sunk or flipped over.

I expect by tomorrow there will have been a sighting of the hull or news that she has sunk. Either way Bekking does not envision repairing the boat at this point.


Here is the press release:

Bouwe Bekking: “Right now we actually don’t have a position on the boat.
The last position was more than a day ago and we had a beacon but that
disappeared at ten o’clock on Sunday night so that’s very bad news. The
weather conditions improved today so much that we are able to send out a
plane so we can get a visual sight on the area where the last position
was known. There’s an airplane right now on the way.

“I hope the boat is still upright. I really have my doubts about it
because of the damage and the amount of water which was coming in at
such a rate and that was in quite fair conditions. Yet when the whole
thing started it was 25 knots, and when ABN Amro Two picked us up it was
10 - 15 knots. But the seas were getting higher and higher and
especially with the forecast and we know there have been 10 metre waves
and fifty knots plus wind. So I have serious doubts the boat will be
still be afloat. If not I think the keel may have fallen off and the
boat flipped upside down. How the next couple of days will go we will
have to wait to see. If they see the boat today, we will make a couple
of decisions over the next few days as we have 25 people over here
working for our team. There are families over here and of course we have
obligations to our sponsors.

“I don’t think we will race this boat again even if we get her back. So
some of us will come to Rotterdam, because there are some containers
over there and of course we will show up at the final prize giving in
Gothenburg to show our respect for all the other competitors in this
race. And hopefully we will be back -- all of us are sailors.

“I personally hope that we can keep sailing on these boats in future
Volvo Ocean Races. I think all the sailors - at least myself - love
these boats. They are fantastic to sail. We know a lot of things have
happened but designers are not stupid and they are all thinking and a
lot of people are communicating with each other to see what we can do to
make the boats safer for the future. So, even if the race is in three
years time we have enough development time and feedback from all the
teams and I think that next time we will have a second generation class
and we won’t have any problems anymore.” --
http://www.volvooceanrace.org

:
Seth
 

Roger Ware

Member III
More bad news

Seth - I finally found the clip you posted on the sail-world site but no sign of it (at least to me) on the VOR site. Seems odd, couldnt be much more newsworthy. Volvo is not going to be happy. The publicity for this race is not enhancing the Volvo=Safety equation at all.

I would have thought they might have sent out a boat while Movistar was still sending a position (she was only a 100 miles or so from land), but I guess there were other preoccupations. There is pretty heavy traffic in that area too, so I wouldnt be surprised is someone sights her, or runs into her.

Roger
 

kevin81

Member II
There was very good article in Wednesday's (5/24/2006) Wall Street Journal written by G. Bruce Knecht. Bruce was an observer on ABN Amro One on the leg from Baltimore to NY. Unfortunately, if you're not a subscriber to the WSJ, they don't don't offer free downloads on the net. If you can get a copy, get it. It's on the back page of the Personal Journal section.

Another link is http://sailtexas.com/
This has links to other websites on the race (and other races) and includes a video clip to the news conference following the end of that leg.

Bottom line is don't take chances, be safe.
Kevin
 
Top