Volvo Ocean Race- Team Vestas Wind aims to return to race by Lisbon

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World team on 2 Jan 2015 Volvo Ocean Race Denmark's Team Vestas Wind will attempt to repair its 65-foot racing yacht and rejoin the race in Lisbon following its grounding on Cargados Carajos Shoals veast of Mauritius.

Vestas was sailing north on a new course, rerouted by race organisers just before the fleet left Capetown to avoid a storm

Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak admitted he made a mistake with digital charts, failing to drill down to the greatest details. The boat hit the reef at 20 knots, the force of the collision spun the boat around, sheared off both rudders and the waves then pounded it against the reef, destroying much of the stern of the boat.

The crew eventually abandoned ship, wading through shark infested reef waters from which they were transported to Mauritus by a fishing boat.

Australian skipper Chris Nicholson and his Vestas Wind team including Shore Manager Neil Cox with a South African salvage team recovered the boat, which is currently being transported on a Maersk container vessel to bound for Malaysia thence it will be transported to Italy and be rebuilt and reenter the race in Lisbon, Portugal in May.

'I feel a little daunted by what’s in front of us, but at the same time, I welcome our chance to get back in the race,' Nicholson said from Abu Dhabi, where the remaining six teams will head out for Sanya, China, tomorrow, Jan 3.

Nicholson will remain as skipper and decide any crew changes this month, said Morten Albaek, Vestas’ chief marketing officer. As the boat, owned by the Volvo Ocean Race itself was leased to Vestas, the rebuilt will not add to the overall cost of the race for Vestas, though it will require a 24x7 effort by the sailing team and shore crew.

Albaek said 'Every second is going to count, every minute of every day, from tomorrow until we get to Lisbon,'

Nicholson and Vestas thought returning to the race would be impossible. There wasn’t time to build a new version of the one design boats.

'We got the boat off the reef in better condition than we thought possible,' Nicholson said. 'There are large portions of the deck that can be reused and a lot of other components within the structure. Fingers are crossed that story will get better and better.'

'The schedule is short and much could still go wrong, but Vestas views this as an opportunity to demonstrate the team and company are capable of overcoming such challenges' said Albaek.

'This gives us the opportunity to perform one of the biggest comebacks in sailing and prove to the world who we are,' he said.