In a report on the death of John Fisher, the New York Times reports that the boat's AIS system (Automatic Identification System) was not working when the sailor from the Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team went overboard in the Southern Ocean. Furthermore, although the unnamed helmsman repeatedly shouted "man overboard" after the accident and pressed the red "man overboard" button on the steering wheel, he did not do so for the necessary four seconds to actually record the scene of the accident.
Two further reasons have now become known which may have contributed to the fact that the crew were unable to find their sailing companion who had gone overboard, the marker buoy they had thrown behind them or the lifebuoy in gale force winds of around 45 knots and waves as high as a house.
The only antenna for the AIS system on board the VO65 yacht - attached to the top of the 30 metre high mast - was broken in heavy weather on the second day after the start of the infamous Queen's leg from Auckland around Cape Horn to Itajaí in Brazil and could no longer be used by David Witt's Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team. In an interview, according to the New York Times, Witt said: "If we had had our AIS, we would have found him."
However, the team's quickly initiated search and rescue operation was unsuccessful despite the search grid that had been drawn up and implemented and had to be abandoned after around four and a half hours in relentless wind and wave conditions with increasing danger for the team and boat. A second replacement antenna for the AIS systems on board the yachts is likely to be at the top of the list of improvements for future editions of the Volvo Ocean Race and could even become mandatory equipment during the current edition. The organisers' safety experts want to discuss this.
Just a few days after the tragic accident on 26 March, the Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team wrote in an initial statement that the crew assumed that John Fisher was already unconscious when he went overboard. The boat had made a patent gybe in a wave trough and the violently shifting mainsail swept the 47-year-old sailor, who was not connected to the ship by a lifebelt at the time, off board - a chain of unfortunate circumstances. Fisher's death triggered worldwide consternation and a new safety debate.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
