| At sea. Volvo Ocean Race: Movistar abandoned |
|
|
|
| Sunday, 21 May 2006 | |
|
Cameron Kelleher: The crew of the Spanish yacht, movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has abandoned the yacht and transferred the 10-man crew via life raft to ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Joss), which has been standing by since approximately 2200 GMT last night. The two boats are positioned 307 nautical miles west south-west of Land’s End. The sea state is rough, but the wind has temporarily eased to seven knots, which has made the transfer of the crew easier. The weather is forecast to deteriorate and 40 – 50 knots winds are expected in the vicinity within the next four to six hours. The decision to transfer the crew and abandon movistar was made in the light of the extreme weather expected. When asked for assistance, the Royal Navy responded immediately and HMS Mersey, a River class offshore patrol vessel built for UK fishery protection, has left Milford Haven in South Wales and is expected to rendezvous with ABN AMRO TWO in approximately eight hours’ time and shepherd ABN AMRO TWO to the nearest coast. Food and personal items were transferred with the crew of movistar and ABN AMRO TWO is equipped with two ten-man life rafts if required. Movistar has been left with her generator and Inmarsat Satcom C communications system running so that her position can be tracked as long as possible. At the head of the fleet, Ericsson (Neal McDonald) is approximately 28 nautical miles west of the Needles at the entrance to the Solent. Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard), is eight miles south of Portland Bill and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) is 10 miles east of Start Point. |
|
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 May 2006 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|