Volvo 'castaways' safe after reef-grounding drama

Volvo Ocean Race's shipwrecked Team Vestas Wind crew finally made it back to civilization on Wednesday, telling of their amazing escape from a collision with an Indian Ocean reef that grounded their boat.

The unshaven, exhausted, uninjured nine members of the team in the global ocean race were holed up, incommunicado, for three days in the remote archipelago after their boat ran into the reef on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Nicholson, the 45-year-old skipper from New South Wales, who was contesting his fourth edition of the nine-month Volvo Ocean Race until the accident, said he was still piecing together his emotions after the crash.

"I'm really disappointed of course - on the other hand, we have to realize how fortunate we are for everyone to be here in one piece, and to be healthy.

"It's pretty amazing, so there's a lot of emotions at the moment," he told volvooceanrace.com shortly after arriving at dockside in Mauritius.

"The past four days have been very challenging for all of us, and I am extremely proud of the whole crew's professionalism, composure, and endurance.

"It's clear that human error is responsible for the shipwreck, there's no avoiding that. And as skipper, I take the ultimate responsibility."

Their 65-foot boat smashed into the coral rock at 19 knots - the equivalent of 35 kilometers an hour - spun 180 degrees and crashed to a halt, grounded on the reef.

The crew remained on the reef until the small hours of the following morning before abandoning the boat in darkness and wading in knee-deep water to a dry position on the reef.

A small boat from the local coast guard then took them early on Sunday to a small islet, e du Sud, which is known as a favorite with shark-watching holiday-makers.

The crew could have left the area on Tuesday but decided to stay an extra day to pick up key equipment from their battered boat.

Danish sailor Peter Wibroe, his white shirt stained yellow by sand, sweat and sea salt, was full of admiration for Nicholson.

"I must say that the team worked really well together, especially Nico, the skipper, who led the whole situation in a very professional way," said Wibroe.

Nicholson said it was "the No 1 toughest decision of my life" to order his crew to abandon ship.

"Tonight is the most beautiful night I've ever seen ... and last night was one of the worst nights that I have ever seen," Nicholson said after the recovery.

"We're kind of literally shipwrecked It's a unique experience going through it."

He said he had planned to keep the crew on board until daybreak. The crew had practiced a drill for abandoning the boat 15 to 20 times, "but never with the intention of actually having to do it," he said.

The massive pounding of the waves eventually led Nicholson to decide he had no option but to abandon ship.

The skipper said he was impressed with his crew's spirit during the ordeal.

"We made a mistake, which led to what happened, but I've been blown away by the way the guys dealt with the situation, trying to make things as right as possible today," he said.

"They make me so proud. We have a pretty unique group of people and to get as good an outcome as possible was very fortunate."

(China Daily 12/06/2014 page9)