terpkristin
05-18-2006, 09:22 AM
I know most people don't pay attention to sailing races, but this caught my eye today as I was going through the ESPN RSS feed: Sailor falls overboard, dies in Volvo Ocean Race (http://www.volvooceanrace.org/). As some of you might know, my dad has a 30' sailboat, and sailing is one of the few sports I can still compete in, so I've taken a marked interest in the sport over the last couple of years. As a matter of fact, I was in Baltimore about 3 weeks ago to see the Volvo Ocean Race come to the Inner Harbor (we sailed into the Harbor to check it out--pictures here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin/sets/72057594121505806/)), and this boat was one of the ones I got to see pretty "up close and personal." Ocean sailing has its risks, but it's still sad, especially since he was the only crewmember to have a wife and kid.
Not that sailing the Atlantic is easy by any stretch, but this team had already sailed through what was considered some of the toughest/worst waters in the world. This was more or less the final stretch, and to come that close and lose your helmsman...
linky (http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2449295&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines)
Crew pulls sailor from Atlantic, but he dies
<!-- end pagetitle --> <!-- begin bylinebox --> Associated Press
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<!-- begin text11 div --><!-- begin leftcol --> <!-- template inline -->PORTSMOUTH, England -- A Dutch crewman in the Volvo Ocean Race died early Thursday after being swept overboard in heavy Atlantic seas, race organizers said.
Crew mates aboard the ABN AMRO TWO yacht pulled helmsman and sail trimmer Hans Horrevoets, 32, of The Netherlands, from the ocean but he failed to regain consciousness.
The yacht was sailing in 16-foot waves and 35-mph winds when Horrevoets was thrown overboard some 1,300 miles off Land's End, England, the race office in Portsmouth said.
The other nine crew members immediately turned the boat around, took down its sails and began a search-and-rescue effort. Horrevoets was located and lifted back on board.
Despite efforts to resuscitate him under the direction of medical advisers from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Horrevoets failed to regain consciousness.
Horrevoets had been a professional sailor for more than a decade, including as a trimmer and sailmaker aboard BrunelSunergy in the 1997-98 Whitbread Around the World Race, the former name of the Volvo Ocean Race.
He was a late addition to the sailing crew of ABN AMRO TWO, but had earlier worked with the Dutch team to select promising young sailors for its No. 2 boat.
According to the Volvo Ocean Race's Web site, Horrevoets was the oldest member of the ABN AMRO TWO crew, and the only one who was married with a child, an infant daughter.
ABN AMRO TWO is one of seven boats in the around-the-world race, which is on a leg from New York to England. The race ends in Goteborg, Sweden, in mid-June.
ABN AMRO TWO had been in fifth place at the time of the accident, but may break off the race leg. The leg and overall race is led by its sister vessel, ABN AMRO ONE.
Fans call the race "The Everest of Sailing" because of the extreme conditions crews face aboard their high-tech carbon fiber yachts, which are currently the world's fastest monohull sailboats.
The seven-month, 36,000-mile race started off Vigo, Spain, in November. The boats passed through some of the world's most treacherous waters, including the Southern Ocean.
Not that sailing the Atlantic is easy by any stretch, but this team had already sailed through what was considered some of the toughest/worst waters in the world. This was more or less the final stretch, and to come that close and lose your helmsman...
linky (http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2449295&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines)
Crew pulls sailor from Atlantic, but he dies
<!-- end pagetitle --> <!-- begin bylinebox --> Associated Press
<!-- begin presby2 --><!-- end presby2 -->
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<!-- begin text11 div --><!-- begin leftcol --> <!-- template inline -->PORTSMOUTH, England -- A Dutch crewman in the Volvo Ocean Race died early Thursday after being swept overboard in heavy Atlantic seas, race organizers said.
Crew mates aboard the ABN AMRO TWO yacht pulled helmsman and sail trimmer Hans Horrevoets, 32, of The Netherlands, from the ocean but he failed to regain consciousness.
The yacht was sailing in 16-foot waves and 35-mph winds when Horrevoets was thrown overboard some 1,300 miles off Land's End, England, the race office in Portsmouth said.
The other nine crew members immediately turned the boat around, took down its sails and began a search-and-rescue effort. Horrevoets was located and lifted back on board.
Despite efforts to resuscitate him under the direction of medical advisers from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Horrevoets failed to regain consciousness.
Horrevoets had been a professional sailor for more than a decade, including as a trimmer and sailmaker aboard BrunelSunergy in the 1997-98 Whitbread Around the World Race, the former name of the Volvo Ocean Race.
He was a late addition to the sailing crew of ABN AMRO TWO, but had earlier worked with the Dutch team to select promising young sailors for its No. 2 boat.
According to the Volvo Ocean Race's Web site, Horrevoets was the oldest member of the ABN AMRO TWO crew, and the only one who was married with a child, an infant daughter.
ABN AMRO TWO is one of seven boats in the around-the-world race, which is on a leg from New York to England. The race ends in Goteborg, Sweden, in mid-June.
ABN AMRO TWO had been in fifth place at the time of the accident, but may break off the race leg. The leg and overall race is led by its sister vessel, ABN AMRO ONE.
Fans call the race "The Everest of Sailing" because of the extreme conditions crews face aboard their high-tech carbon fiber yachts, which are currently the world's fastest monohull sailboats.
The seven-month, 36,000-mile race started off Vigo, Spain, in November. The boats passed through some of the world's most treacherous waters, including the Southern Ocean.