Volvo Ocean Race: Why John Fisher went overboard in the Southern Ocean

The tragic death of British sailor John Fisher, who went overboard in the Southern Ocean around 1400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn on Monday and could not be found by his team despite the search and rescue operation that was immediately launched and almost superhuman efforts in the storm, has been preoccupying the sailing world for two days. The Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team has now published an initial report on the events of the man-overboard accident. Meanwhile, the crew led by skipper David Witt is still battling with stormy winds, trying to make port on the Chilean coast.

"It's the worst situation you can imagine for your team," said Sun Hung Kai / Scallywags team manager Tim Newton, who spoke to David Witt and navigator Libby Greenhalgh about the events last Monday. Newton said, "We are absolutely heartbroken for John's family and friends. I know David has lost his best friend. It's devastating." Newton has asked the crew to write a timeline of events.

This is how the crew describes what happened on board the Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team on Monday:

• On Monday 26 March, Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag sailed in leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Auckland in New Zealand to Itajaí in Brazil, some 1400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn.
• The weather conditions were 35 to 45 knots of wind with four to five metre high waves, with rain showers restricting visibility. There was still a quarter of an hour until sunrise.
• The team sailed with a single reef in the mainsail and under a J2 headsail. The fractional 0 (FR0, gennaker, editor's note) was set but furled.
• At around 1pm UTC (3pm German time) SHK/Scallywag surfed down a big wave, which led to an unintentional patent jibe.
• John Fisher was on deck, in the cockpit. At the time, he was moving forwards to clear the FR0 sail and had therefore unhooked his lifebelt (which connects him to the boat, ed.)
• When the mainsail struck the other side in the jibe, the mainsail system (main boom or boom vang, ed.) caught John and knocked him off the boat. The crew believe that John was already unconscious from the blow before he fell into the water.
• He was wearing his survival suit with a neoprene hood, gloves and lifejacket.
• The marker buoy and the lifebuoy were thrown out of the stern of the boat to mark the position.
• It took some time to get the boat under control and return under engine and sail to the spot near where the man-overboard incident had occurred.
• At 13.42 UTC (15.42 German time) the crew emailed the race organisers to inform them that a man had gone overboard and they were returning to the MOB position to begin a search grid.
• The search and rescue operation was conducted over several hours with the assistance of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and race control in Alicante, but there was no sign of John, the lifebuoy or the marker buoy.
• In view of the worsening weather conditions, the difficult decision was made to abandon the search and ensure the safety of the remaining crew.

Newton reports that his team is distraught but clearly focused on getting the crew and boat back to shore.

"The situation is not over for our team yet," said Newton on Wednesday. "The conditions are extremely challenging in view of the strong winds and the seas that will continue to build over the coming days. Our sole focus is on getting the team safely into harbour with the help of the race management." Once that has been achieved, says Newton, there will be enough time for a detailed debriefing.