Volvo Ocean Race: "I made a big mistake"

In a Facebook post 39-year-old Dutchman Wouter Verbraak explains how it was possible to run aground on the reef and subsequently become stranded. Apparently, in the heat of the competition and distracted by other events, he selected too low a zoom level on the map and simply overlooked the reef.

An inexplicable mistake considering the man's experience. Verbraak has already taken part in two races, the America's Cup, the Barcelona World Race and all the world's major regattas.

Here is his statement:

I am devastated and still in shock at the severity of our stranding, while I slowly realise that we are safe in Mauritius and have some time to reflect on what has happened.

I made one big mistake, but we didn't make any more after that, although there were many difficult decisions to be made in a challenging situation.

Once I get power to the on-board laptops (if they survive), I can investigate in more detail how we missed the reef on the electronic charts. I examined the area on the electronic charts before lying down for a break after a long day investigating the tropical storm. All I could see were depths of 42 and 80 metres. There is a very good article published on http://blog.geogarage.com/2014/12/questions-asked-about-volvo-ocean-race.html which describes the zoom problems with the maps we use. (Boris Herrmann has also explained this, ed.)

I can assure you that we study our route very diligently before each leg, and I use both Google Earth, paper maps and other tools. But our planned route changed just before we set off, and with the focus on the start and the tricky conditions, I wrongly assumed I had enough information to study the changes while we were underway.

I was wrong. I'm not trying to make excuses, just give some sort of explanation and answer some of your questions.

There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from this.

Verbraak concludes by thanking his friends for their sympathy and support, especially Team Alvimedica, who stayed nearby and offered assistance, and the fisherman and Coastguard who rescued them.