There are no surprises in the eagerly awaited report of the committee of enquiry. Together with navigation guru Stan Honey (ex-navigator "ABN Amro One") and Chuck Hawley, Chairman of the Safety Committee for Sailing in the American Sailing Association, former Rear Admiral Chris Oxenbould has investigated the Vestas accident. The Danish yacht ran aground on a reef at the end of November during the second leg in the middle of the Indian Ocean in the Cargados-Carajos Islands around 400 kilometres north-east of Mauritius. The crew, under the command of skipper Chris Nicholson, had to abandon ship but managed to save themselves on the Ile du Sud. The 65-foot boat was badly damaged, but was later also salvaged and is currently being prepared at the Italian shipyard Persico in Bergamo for its comeback for the final European stages of the race around the world. Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak has since been sacked despite initial appeals to team spirit.
The Volvo Ocean Race management commissioned the independent investigation in December. The three most important findings of the investigation: 1. there were deficiencies in the handling of the electronic charts and other navigational data on board "Vestas Wind". 2. there were also deficiencies in the cartographic presentation of navigational hazards in low and medium resolution in the electronic chart display and information system. The Committee of Inquiry commented on this: "The team was not aware of any immediate danger, as the draught in the Cargados-Carajos Islands area was indicated as at least 40 metres. For this reason, the crew assumed that it was safe to pass the shoal." 3. the emergency management worked well. There were no aspects of race control or race management that contributed to the accident.
In simple terms, the experts' message is this: The navigator should have selected a higher resolution for the area chart. The chart software should also indicate shallows in lower and medium resolutions - it should be improved. And: The race management is not to blame for this incident, but should use its influence on the yachting industry to suggest improvements to the navigation software. The co-responsibility of Chris Nicholson as skipper of the team for fundamental navigational decisions is not the subject of the report.
The expert commission also made a number of recommendations to minimise the risk of such dramatic accidents in the future. Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, said that all recommendations would be taken into account. Frostad continued: "It is in our interest that this report is used by the entire ocean sailing community in the future. There will always be accidents at sea. We hope that this will make them less likely."
On 15 March, the fleet of six remaining boats will set off from Auckland on the sixth and longest leg of the circumnavigation, covering 6776 nautical miles to the Brazilian port of Itajaí. Cape Horn is the legendary "waymark" of this infamous Southern Ocean leg.
