There’s the “other” adventure race going on at the same time the Volvo Ocean Race. It all comes down to Mapfre, Dongfeng and Brunel. One can say it’s not nearly as cool as the R2AK, at least for us, it’s still exciting. In fact as I write this Dongfeng and Mapfre are in a dead heat with about 500 miles to go.
And leave it to the Europeans to make it a spectator sport. The fleet is routed through an inner harbor at Aarhus, where thousands of people can watch the boats do a quick maneuver. While this may drive the crews a bit crazy, it’s pretty interesting. I’ve set the link to this video to right before Dongfeng makes rounds a mark and heads out to meet Mapfre on the way in. (There’s actually a Part II to this video)
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
A number of people have decried the Leg 8 finish of the Volvo Ocean Race in Newport, Rhode Island as somewhat of a travesty. After all, Mapfre ghosted back from 5th (in a 7 boat fleet!) 24 hours before to win the leg by a few seconds. One look at the fleets’ plotter courses tells the story. It’s agonizing just looking at it. That said, I’ll submit that’s one of the things that makes this sport special. Yeah, the “better” sailors, or better sailed boats or better prepared boats usually win, but not always. No, it’s not fair. And sometimes it’s painful. But that possibility gives everybody a reason to stay out there, even when it seems hopeless. Who among us hasn’t clutched defeat from the hands of victory? Clutched victory from the hands of defeat? Anyway, here’s the video of the Mapfre and Brunel finishing, with the video starting a couple minutes before the finish.
And then there’s the Race to the Straits. Now, most of the crews were too busy to spend their time videotaping, but the Sloop Tavern crowd managed to get some footage of the finishes. Here’s some of Saturday’s finish in a nice breeze and sunshine:
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
John Fisher, who was swept overboard during an accidental gybe and subsequently lost at sea during the the Volvo Ocean Race.
Here’s how John Fisher was lost overboard in the Volvo Ocean Race, according to a press release by Team Scallywag. Kudos to the team for putting out the information so quickly.
The following story has been issued on behalf of Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag
On Monday 26 March, Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag lost John Fisher overboard in the Southern Ocean, approximately 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn.
Despite conducting an exhaustive search in gale force conditions, he has not been recovered.
“This is the worst situation you can imagine happening to your team,” said SHK/Scallywag Team Manager Tim Newton, who has spoken with skipper David Witt and navigator Libby Greenhalgh about what happened on Monday.
“We are absolutely heart-broken for John’s family and friends. I know for David, he has lost his best friend. It’s devastating.”
Newton says he asked the crew to put together a timeline of events to ensure accurate reporting on the incident and it follows here:
On Monday, 26 March, SHK/Scallywag was racing in Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Auckland, New Zealand to Itajai, Brazil, approximately 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn
Weather conditions were 35-45 knots with 4 to 5 metre seas with showers reducing visibility. It was 15 minutes before sunrise
The team was sailing with a single reef in the mainsail and the J2 jib. The Fractional 0 (FR0) sail was hoisted but furled
At roughly 1300 UTC SHK/Scallywag surfed down a large wave leading to an accidental crash gybe
John Fisher was on deck, in the cockpit. At the time, he was moving forward to tidy up the FR0 sheet and had therefore unclipped his tether
As the mainsail swung across the boat in the gybe, the mainsheet system caught John and knocked him off the boat. The crew on board believe John was unconscious from the blow before he hit the water
He was wearing a survival suit with a wetsuit hood and gloves and a lifejacket
The JON buoy and the horseshoe buoy were thrown off the back of the boat to mark the position
It took some time to get the boat under control and motor sail back to a position near where the man overboard occurred
At 1342 (UTC), the team informed Race Control, by email, that there was a man overboard and they were returning to the MOB position to start a search pattern
With input from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and Race Control in Alicante, a search and rescue operation was carried out for several hours but there was no sign of John, the horseshoe buoy, or the JON buoy
With weather conditions deteriorating, a difficult decision was taken to abandon the search and preserve the safety of the remaining crew
Newton says the team is distraught but has a clear focus on getting the crew and boat back to shore.
“This situation isn’t over yet for our team,” Newton said. “The conditions are extremely challenging, with strong winds and a forecast for a building sea state over the next couple of days. Our sole focus, with the assistance of Race Control in Alicante is to get the team into port safely.
“Once we have achieved that, we have time to de-brief more fully and ensure that any lessons that can be learned from what happened to John are incorporated by the rest of the fleet going forward.
“That would be a tremendous legacy for John, who spent so much of his time passing the learnings from his lifetime of experience at sea onto the younger sailors on our team.”
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
There’s been another incident in the Volvo Ocean Race. Crew member John Fisher went overboard Monday at 1342 UTC in 35 knot winds and tremendously challenging seas. As of this writing (about 0500 UTC Tuesday) he has not been found. While other sites have indicated the search has been called off, I can’t confirm it. The official line is that the search is continuing. The following press releases lay out what’s known, and that Scallywag has been diverted to the nearest landfall.
Latest Release – From Richard Brisius, President of the Volvo Ocean Race
John Fisher
This morning I am extremely sad to inform you that one of our sailors, John Fisher, from Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag, is now presumed to have been lost at sea.
This is heart-breaking for all of us. As sailors and race organisers losing a crew member at sea is a tragedy we don’t ever want to contemplate. We are devastated and our thoughts are with John’s family, friends and teammates.
Yesterday, just after 1300 UTC, Race Control for the Volvo Ocean Race were informed of a man overboard situation by Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag.
We immediately coordinated with the team as well as the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, who have located a ship and diverted it towards the scene. But at current speeds it remains over a day away.
With the rest of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet approximately 200 miles downwind, sending them back upwind to assist, against gale to storm force winds, was not a viable option.
The Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team conducted an exhaustive search for several hours in extremely challenging weather conditions, but they were unable to recover their teammate.
Given the cold water temperature and the extreme sea state, along with the time that has now passed since he went overboard, we must now presume that John has been lost at sea.
All of us here at the Volvo Ocean Race organisation send our heartfelt condolences out to John’s family, his friends and his teammates and we will do everything in our power to support them in this very difficult time.
Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag has now resumed heading in a north-easterly direction.
In fact, the team is currently in a challenging position – the weather is deteriorating and is forecast to be quite severe over the course of today.
The crew is, of course, emotionally and physically drained after what they have just experienced.
Our sole focus now is to provide all the support and assistance that we can to the team.
We are sure that there will be many questions about how one of our sailors was lost overboard yesterday.
We can address those after the team has been fully debriefed.
Today, our thoughts and prayers go out to John’s family and the entire Scallywag team
UPDATE: Search and Rescue operation continues for Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag sailor
The Scallywag team, assisted by the MRCC, conducted an exhaustive search and rescue operation in an effort to recover Fisher, who was on watch and wearing appropriate survival gear when he went overboard.
The remaining crew are reported safe.
Scallywag
The wind in the area at the time was a strong 35-knot westerly, with accompanying sea state. Water temperature was 9-degrees Celsius. There is still daylight, but weather conditions are forecast to deteriorate in the coming hours, and darkness will come at approximately 01:20 UTC.
The MRCC has already requested a ship, nearly 400 nautical miles away, divert to the scene.
The MRCC continues in attempts to contact other ships that may be able to assist.
The weather in the area is forecast to deteriorate significantly in the coming hours. Given the severity of the forecast and with nightfall just over an hour away, we acknowledge the chances of a successful recovery are diminishing.
SHK/Scallywag has thus made the difficult decision to turn downwind and head towards the South American coast, the nearest safe landfall, approximately 1,200 nautical miles away.
We will have more information as it becomes available.
John Fisher, Konrad Frost photo. Click to enlarge.
John Fisher, Konrad Frost photo
John Fisher, Konrad Frost photo
Original Report
Race Control for the Volvo Ocean Race has been informed by Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag of a man overboard incident on Monday afternoon at approximately 13:42 UTC.
The team, along with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), has been conducting a search and rescue operation to recover the missing crew member, John Fisher (UK), who was wearing survival equipment when he went overboard. The remaining crew are reported safe.
The incident took place approximately 1,400 miles west of Cape Horn. The wind in the search area is a strong 35-knot westerly, with accompanying sea state. Water temperature is 9-degrees Celsius. There is daylight, but weather conditions are forecast to deteriorate in the coming hours.
Given the gale force conditions it is not an option to divert any of the other six Volvo Ocean Race competitors, who are at least 200 miles further east and downwind of Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, to assist in the search operation.
The MRCC has identified a ship approximately 400 nautical miles away and it has been diverted to the scene.
Naturally we are deeply concerned, especially given the weather conditions, and Race Control in Alicante is supporting the Scallywag team and MRCC throughout the operation.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Here we are with some really wet Wet Wednesday videos. First off we have the Vestas crew prepping for getting up on deck. Looks cold. Vestas led the fleet from Auckland into the Southern Ocean. She relinquished the lead today, but is now the furthermost south in the fleet.
Here’s a little video from the Finn Europeans in Cadiz. Singlehanded dinghy sailors may feel their abs and quads tightening just a bit watching this. For the rest of you watching the beast known as the Finn – be in awe.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Vestas 11th Hour Racing motoring into Hong Kong after the collision.
In a tragic sequence of events Friday, the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) entry Vestas 11th Hour Racing collided with a fishing boat about 30 miles from the finish in Hong Kong, east of Waglan Island. The fishermen were pulled from the water, apparently by the crew of Vestas. Nine fishermen were rescued and one died of his injuries.
Vestas skipper Charlie Enright was not onboard, handing the reigns over to his longtime sailing partner Mark Towill while he had some pressing issues ashore.
Vestas was reaching along at about 20 knots at about 2 a.m. local time, in a strong second place for the leg. Details are unknown and will likely remain so as an investigation is conducted. Vestas motored in to Hong Kong with the boat heeled to starboard apparently to keep the holed port bow out of the water.
Little is known and not much is forthcoming from VOR headquarters. In fact, while the online sailing community scoured the world’s servers for information, the VOR media team virtually ignored the calamity on air while it was happening.
While explaining the situation to my favorite newbie sailor (my wife Abby) I heard myself saying that flying into crowded waters at 20 knots at night is just not seamanlike. It’s not. If a vessel is dimly or not lighted, there’s not much time to react at 20 knots. Radar cannot easily pick up some low-slung vessels and AIS is not universally used. When you think about it, for the unsuspecting fisherman even trying to avoid a Volvo 65 flying at 20 knots isn’t at all easy. Without a doubt, these Volvo crews are the world’s greatest offshore sailors. But they can’t be expected to be the most seamanlike when racing into crowded waters at night on a boat capable of those speeds and so much at stake.
One thing about our sport is that no matter how risky we make it, we’re generally only endangering ourselves. The fact that a mariner not competing in the sport died is simply tragic. I’m sure the crews of all the boats, and especially Vestas, are devastated.
Ironically, it was Vestas Wind (crewed by a completely different team) that ran up on the rocks Cargados Carajos Shoals near Mauritius in the last Volvo Race.
I’ll spend way too much time trying to figure out what went on out there, and present it here when significant new confirmed information becomes available.
The rest of the boats finished in this order: Scallywag, Dong Feng, Akzonobel, Mapfre, Team Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastic.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
I have a very mixed relationship with Legos. Like a lot of parents, the hours of entertainment for my boys (and my peace) are just about worth the absolutely ridiculous prices I pay for plastic games that clip together. They foster focus, a sense of accomplishment and true excitement for Ian (9) and Gabe (4). I even feel a certain amount of pleasure when I’m called in to help on a difficult part.
But when that final piece is snapped on, the trouble begins. The first trouble is the Sanctity of the Lego. For a time, which can vary from an hour to a month, The Toy is not to be disrupted. The box must also not be thrown into recycling. A shrine is set up somewhere in the house where It cannot be disturbed. But disturbed It will be, usually by Gabe or one of his friends. And by disturbed, unsnapped. At that point, hopefully before Ian sees the damage, I can piece it back together usually when I have something else pressing in “real life.” If I can’t fix it, when Ian finds the damage the ensuing howl will be heard all the way to Oregon.
But that’s not the worst of it. The worst of it is that ultimately when interest is lost in The Toy (usually when it’s superceded by another Lego puzzle) it goes into The Bins. The Bins are boxes of Lego pieces from 20+ puzzles over the years. Every time the boys want to play Legos and there are no new puzzles to tackle, the bins’ contents are deposited on a bed sheet on the floor. And, no matter what, Lego pieces escape from that sheet and become landmines for anyone walking around in my house, or chokable objects for visiting babies.
Either inside the bins or lurking in every nook and cranny of furniture or floor, these thousands of pieces take up permanent residence in my small house. Being a sailor, I’m not fond of clutter. So I go a little crazy.
No doubt my boys will require therapy as they explain “Dad went crazy just ’cause he found a little Lego piece in his underwear. He yelled and it wasn’t even my fault. It was my brother’s!”
Ah, but here is a completely worthwhile Lego project, done by adults and seen by thousands. And if you doubt they can make a working canting keel, you haven’t seen much of Legos lately. I’m sure kids (and grownups) will love it, but all I’ll be thinking about is how miserable it would be to have the clean up the 100,000 pieces!
Now, this gives me an idea. Show Ian these pictures and challenge him to make a miniature two-meter long Volvo 65! It would give me weeks of peace! Oh wait, there’s no room for the shrine. Oh well.
ALICANTE, March 8 – A model boat of Team SCA, made entirely of 100,000 LEGO® pieces, will be exhibited in the Volvo Ocean Race museum from today.
The launch of the Volvo Ocean 65 replica boat, which safely delivered the all-female crew of Team SCA around the world in the 2014-15 race, coincides with International Women’s Day.
The model was donated by SCA, the Swedish global hygiene company, which sponsored skipper Sam Davies’s crew in the nine-month marathon race.
It was displayed at each of the 11 ports that hosted the 12th edition before being transported to its new permanent home in the Alicante-based Volvo Ocean Race museum.
“The boat is in the best place possible. After a long journey around the world, it has returned home,” said Anders Gaasedal, one of the men who constructed it.
October 21, 2014. A 1:10 scale replica of Team SCA’s VO65, built of Lego bricks.
The Dane, who works for LEGO®, embarked in 2013 on the challenge of making the Volvo Ocean 65 replica together with his Swedish friend Johan Sahlström, an engineer for Volvo Trucks. They achieved their target after 1,200 hours of work.
“At the start of the regatta, we dreamed of bringing the boat back to Alicante. This has been an adventure for us and for Team SCA. It’s marvellous that the boat is being exhibited in the museum. The more people who can enjoy it the better,” added Sahlström.
What started as a diverting challenge for two friends, developed into a complete engineering and logistic project, replicating in miniature the dimensions of the boat (2.32 metres in length, 3.03 metres mast height, 0.56 metres width of the hull). It has a functioning, scaled-down keel (+/- 40 degrees with five degrees of tilt from its axis).
“Everything works, the pieces are not stuck together. The most difficult thing was making everything curve using pieces that are basically rectangular. This is most beautiful model that I have ever made,” said Sahlström.
“Our boat from the distance looks like a real model, you can´t see it´s made of LEGO® bricks, and then, when you come closer, it´s a great surprise.
Anders Gaasedal and Johan Sahlström show off their 2-meter Lego model of the SCA Volvo 65.
Everything has curves, it´s been built in 3D, the bricks have been put together from the top, the side and the bottom, and all is shiny. Children always build from the bottom to the top.”
The Volvo Ocean Race museum, which offers free entrance, welcomed more than 50,000 visitors in 2015 and is the only one in the world dedicated to almost 43 years of history of the round-the-world race.
Alicante, headquarters of the Volvo Ocean Race organisation since 2010, was the departure port in the last three editions of the race and will be so again in the next event starting in 2017.
SCA has a long record supporting women’s causes around the world and Team SCA’s entry in the last Volvo Ocean Race underlined their commitment to the issue of female empowerment.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
