VOR CREWMEMBER WAS NOT CLIPPED ON
HOME NEWSINDUSTRY NEWS VOR CREWMEMBER WAS NOT CLIPPED ON
29 Mar 2018
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John Fisher was knocked overboard during an accidental gybe. Photo credit: Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race
INDUSTRY DATABASE
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
John Fisher, the crewmember who was lost at sea while taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race was not clipped on it has emerged.
The incident took place on March 26 on board SHK/Scallywag who was racing in Leg 7 of the race from Auckland to Itajai, Brazil, approximately 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn.
The wind was 35-45 knots with 4m to 5m seas with showers reducing the visibility. It was 15 minutes before sunrise.
“This is the worst situation you can imagine happening to your team,” said SHK/Scallywag team manager Tim Newton.
VOR Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari, added: “It’s made us all realise how vulnerable we are down here, how hostile the environment is down here and how quickly things can go bad and how we’ve all lost a friend. That’s affected everyone quite deeply.”
Crash gybe
In its initial debrief, the team explained how they were sailing with a reef in the mainsail and the J2 jib.
SHK/Scallywag surfed down a large wave which lead to an accidental crash gybe.
Mr Fisher was in the cockpit and had unclipped his tether to move forward to tidy up a sheet.
As the mainsail swung across the boat in the gybe, the mainsheet system caught him and knocked him off the boat. He was believed to be unconscious from the blow before hitting the water.
Survival suit
He was wearing a survival suit with a wetsuit hood and gloves and a lifejacket and both the JON buoy and horseshoe buoy were thrown off the back of the boat to mark the position.
But by the time the boat was under control and had motor sailed back to the position, neither Mr Fisher nor the buoys could be found.
A search and rescue operation was carried out for several hours however, with the weather conditions deteriorating, the search was abandoned.
The team is currently heading towards Chile which is the closest landfall.