Volvo Ocean Race- Tribute from Simon Le Bon to Magnus Olsson

by Sail-World on 24 Apr 2013
Simon Le Bon sailed with Magnus Olsson on board Drum in the 1985-86 edition of the race. Le Bon has sent The Volvo Ocean race website a personal tribute to his smiling Swedish friend, who died on April 20 at the age of 64.

A musician and the owner of the maxi yacht Drum, Le Bon was participating in the Fastnet with skipper Skip Novak when the boat lost her keel and capsized.

Before being rescued, the crew members were trapped underwater, inside the hull, for 40 minutes.

Despite the accident, the Duran Duran singer went on to complete what was then the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1985-86, with Magnus Olsson, his 'flat footed friend', among the crew.

We're sailing down a wave

you and me

and all shipmates bunched like knuckles in the cockpit

a lazy fist punch through the spray and the spindrift

white arrow gleaming, touched by the sun

but your smile is brighter

and you laugh louder

than the howling old sea when she bangs on our Drum

Goodbye flat footed friend

and many other things which set you apart

for in the cold and damp

the world has need of folk like you

to keep the ember alive

when you blow on its heart


Simon Le Bon