Portsmouth (England) – The Brasil 1 mourns the death of 32-year old sailor Hans Horrevoets, of the ABN Amro 2. The Dutch sailor was knocked overboard by a strong wave at 2 a.m. (GMT), 11 p.m. local time Brasília, in the middle of the North Atlantic, at 2600 kms from the English coast.

“Words cannot express the pain we share at this moment. All our thoughts are with you and the family that Hans leaves behind,” said the e-mail, signed by the Brasil 1 crew and sent directly to the ABN Amro 2.

On land, the team sent the following statement to the Dutch team: “This is a very sad morning for all of us who are involved in the Volvo Ocean Race. All of us are aware of the risks in a competition such as this one but that certainly doesn’t diminish the impact of an accident such as this. During the last seven months, we have all lived together, mostly as competitors but at the same time as partners in this huge adventure. The Brasil 1 team would like to express its sadness and show our solidarity with all of those who were close to Hans Horrevoets. It is a very heartfelt loss to us, who are a part of the Volvo Ocean Race family.”

The accident happened when the ABN 2 was facing 5-meter high waves and winds of more than 25 knots. The crew immediately called a “man overboard” situation, marking the location where the sailor went overboard with a GPS. Then the team lowered the sails and turned on the engine to return to the exact location. After approximately two hours of searching, Horrevoets was found. The paramedics on board tried to revive him, unsuccessfully.

The Brasil 1 was the first boat to respond to the call for help from the Dutch team. Close to 3 a.m. in the morning (GMT), Torben Grael and his crew changed course and sailed for an hour towards the ABN Amro 2. The Pirates of the Caribbean/USA, Brunel/AUS and movistar/SPA did the same.

The seventh leg – Before the accident, the Brasil 1 had dropped to fourth place, being overtaken by US-Pirates of the Caribbean. According to this Thursday’s update, the Brazilians were 189 miles behind the leader ABN Amro 1. The distance to the Pirates was 10 miles. The Swedish Ericsson is the runner-up, 112 miles behind the ABN 1 and 77 miles ahead of the Brazilians.

The leader of this leg is expected to arrive in Portsmouth, in the South of England, on Saturday night. The other boats should be arriving on Sunday afternoon.’

The overall Volvo Ocean Race standing is as follows: 1.- ABN Amro One, 70.5 points; 2.- Pirates of the Caribbean, 47.5; 3.- movistar, 47; 4.- Brasil 1 and ABN Amro Two, 42; 6.- Ericsson, 34.5 and 7.- Brunel, 2.5.

The Brasil 1 is sponsored by VIVO, Motorola, QUALCOMM, HSBC, Embraer, ThyssenKrupp, NIVEA Sun, Ágora Senior Corretora de Valores and the Brazilian Government through Apex (Trade and Investment Promotion Agency), the Ministry of Industry, Development and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Sports, with special support from Varig.