Volvo Ocean Race ABN AMRO LINK TO AUDIO OF PRESS CONFERENCE

May 23, 2006 16:48 0 comments

ABN AMRO TWO HELD PRESS CONFERENCE THIS MORNING BRIEF DETAILS BELOW:

A full report will follow later today on this site.

ABN AMR TWO

The entire ABN AMRO TWO team and Roy Heiner were present at the press meeting.

The facts…

ABN AMRO TWO were sailing in the early hours with a spinnaker up and the breeze and the sea state was increasing.

The decision was made to reduce sail and all of the crew were putting on lifejackets and harnesses, Hans was trimming the kite and as such was the last to go below.

Before he had the chance, the Volvo 70 nose dived down a big wave and in the aftermath he was over the side with no life jacket on.

The crew immediately inniatiated the man over board procedure they had learnt in training including the hail from the helm and the GPS Alarm was pushed. The Danboy and two life rings and just about everything they could think of went over the side,this was all carried out in a matter of seconds.

With all hands on deck. They dropped the headsail, furled the staysail and dropped a daggerboard to slow themselves as much as possible.

ABN AMRO TWO turned around with engine and main and bashed into a big sea with the wind upto 37 knots. It became obvious that they could not sail the course they wished and dropped the main.

Under motor they first found a lifering then another and after sometime spotted Hans in the water, Simeon Tienpont was already in a survival suit with two lines attaching him to the yacht, Hans was 7 metres from the boat in a big swell, Tienpont went over the side but was unable to reach him.The ABN AMRO TWO bowman was pulled back on board and the skipper Seb Josse was at the helm, they went around twice to get closer to Hans, they made a close pass and plucked him out of the water without any of the crew going over the side.

All attempts to resuccitate him failed.

YOU CAN HEAR THE FULL PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW.http://team.abnamro.com/web/show/id=182419