Volvo Ocean Race – Team Brunel collides with a large fish

by Team Brunel - Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 30 Apr 2015 Volvo Ocean Race – Due to a collision with a large fish, Team Brunel has lost its lead earlier today. The Dutch boat is now in fourth place in the sixth leg. Skipper Bouwe Bekking and his crew had been sailing in the lead for more than a day when the incident occurred.

“We suddenly heard a dull thud and our speed dropped immediately,” reported onboard media reporter Stefan Coppers from the boat. “It was also almost impossible to keep the boat on course. A brief inspection showed that one of the two rudders has speared a large fish. We pushed the fish off the rudder with a pair of spare battens. Unfortunately, the fish did not survive the collision. The rudder wasn’t damaged and we were able to resume our course to Newport without further problems.”

The boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet are still sailing close to each other. The six teams are now basing their course mostly on the enormous banks of cloud hanging over the Atlantic Ocean. There is more wind on the outskirts of a cloud than in the middle. Due to the collision with the fish, Team Brunel has lost a couple of miles to its competition.

The fleet is expected in Newport around 6 May. The twelfth edition of the former Whitbread Round the World Race comprises nine legs and a so-called 24-hour pit-stop in Scheveningen. After sailing approximately 38,739 nautical miles, the fleet of seven VO65 boats will cross the finishing line in the Swedish city of Gothenburg at the end of June.