Hans Horrevoets, a crew member aboard ABN AMRO TWO, one of the two ABN AMRO yachts competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005 – 2006, died earlier this morning after being swept overboard from the boat.



ABN AMRO TWO was sailing downwind in 25 – 30 knots of wind under main, fractional spinnaker and staysail. Seb Josse, Skipper of ABN AMRO TWO was at the helm, Hans, 32 of the Netherlands was trimming the spinnaker sheet, Nick Bice, Andrew Lewis and Lucas Brun were also on deck. The boat nosedived down a wave and water came washing back down the deck, when the water cleared Hans was no longer on deck.



ABN AMRO TWO Navigator Simon Fisher explained the incident, “Immediately Seb hailed a ‘man overboard’ and we initiated man overboard procedures and put in place the GPS positioning. The boat immediately turned around and began to search for him, meanwhile raising the alarm on shore. After Hans was found he was lifted back on board and the Accident and Emergency(A&E) department at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK was notified that we had a major medical emergency and to stand by. Unfortunaly our attempts to resuscitate him were not successful."



ABN AMRO TWO Skipper Sebastien Josse said, “We are all devastated by the events that took place this morning and all our thoughts are for Hans’ family. Throughout the whole MOB (man overboard) procedure the whole crew handled themselves calmly, professionally and with the utmost maturity. It is with deep regret that we were unable to resuscitate Hans.”



Jan Berent Heukensfeldt Jansen, Managing Director of TEAM ABN AMRO said, “We are all shocked and devastated by this terrible news and our thoughts now are very much with Hans’ family. We are all aware of the risks that sailors face but nothing can prepare you for this kind of tragedy. My thoughts are also with the crew who I understand behaved in the most professional manner and reacted immediately and I wish them a safe passage home.”



Glenn Bourke, Chief Executive Volvo Ocean Race said, “All of us at the Volvo Ocean Race are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of ABN AMRO TWO crew member Hans Horrevoets. At this time our thoughts are with Hans’ family and friends, his fellow crew members and all the members of TEAM ABN AMRO. Ocean racing carries inherent risks and we do our utmost to minimize those risks with the mandatory safety equipment we have on board. However, when an accident like this occurs it is a shock to everyone associated with the race. The Volvo Ocean Race family is a close-knit community and we will all lend whatever support is needed at this tragic time.”



The crew are no longer in racing mode but are making their way to Portsmouth as quickly as possible and will make a decision on further participation in the race during the Portsmouth stopover.



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Not that anybody probably knows the answer to this, but aren't these guys tethered to jack lines? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

The boat was covering nearly a half a nautical mile per second at those speeds, leaving Horrevoet almost 10 miles behind by the time the crew took the sails down, the engine turned on and turned around to find him.

"The crew deployed three man overboard devices," Hindley said. "They spotted him after 40 minutes."

New York Times article quote

WOW.... It is amazaing that they found him in those conditions. What a tragedy.

I wonder what the average age is for all the crews doing this race.

(By the way, proofreaders check copy. Fact checkers check facts.)

It takes twenty to thirty minutes to take down what they had up and they dropped sail in a confused sea with 4m wave heights on a black night. So, yes, they were ten miles away by the time they could turn back into a 20-30 kt. wind and all that water to find a drifting flyspeck on the horizon. They backtracked with the computer but imagine what it must have been like out there.

Also, these sailors are usually not tethered. They view the hazard of not clipping as part of the job. They find it too restrictive while working on deck. I'll bet it is. If you clipped, you'd be clipping every time you turned around.

Hans was 32 and he was the man who put the crew of twenty-somethings together to make this race. So, when "the kids" set a monohull record not long into the race it was absolutely amazing. So, the loss was not only of a crewmember but the crewmember that was the reason they were all there and he was the mentor for everyone on board. By all reports the young crew performed an incredibly difficult recovery in big seas in the dark which was something worthy of the most seasoned offshore sailors. This is their first trip around. These kids are good. Hans must have been some teacher. He is survived by his partner Petra, their daughter Bobbi, and the Petra's baby bump.

That's hard.