Missing British sailor John Fisher presumed lost at sea, say Volvo Ocean Race officials

'Weather in the area is forecast to deteriorate significantly in the coming hours,' organisers warn

Tuesday 27 March 2018 10:41 BST
Comments
A 27 October, 2017 handout photo provided by Volvo Ocean Race of sailor John Fisher on board the Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag
A 27 October, 2017 handout photo provided by Volvo Ocean Race of sailor John Fisher on board the Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag

A missing British sailor who fell overboard during the Volvo Ocean Race is now presumed lost at sea, officials have said.

John Fisher went missing on Monday while on watch aboard the Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag yacht, sparking a search effort amid worsening weather. A ship diverted to help was still a day’s sailing away, officials said.

The Adelaide, Australia, resident fell from the yacht in the Southern Ocean about 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn, at 1.42pm on Monday during the seventh leg of the round-the-world race.

Event president Richard Brisius said he was “devastated”.

In a statement, he added: “This is heart-breaking for all of us. As sailors and race organisers losing a crew member at sea is a tragedy we don’t ever want to contemplate. We are devastated and our thoughts are with John’s family, friends and teammates.

“The Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag team conducted an exhaustive search for several hours in extremely challenging weather conditions, but they were unable to recover their teammate.

“Given the cold water temperature and the extreme sea state, along with the time that has now passed since he went overboard, we must now presume that John has been lost at sea.

“All of us here at the Volvo Ocean Race organisation send our heartfelt condolences out to John’s family, his friends and his teammates and we will do everything in our power to support them in this very difficult time.”

None of the other six yachts in the race could be diverted to help in the search due to gale-force winds, event organisers said.

Mr Fisher was taking part in his first Volvo Ocean Race, a 45,000 nautical mile race around the world. The teams were on leg seven from Auckland, New Zealand, to Iajai, Brazil, when Mr Fisher went missing.

He was on watch and wearing appropriate survival gear when he went overboard, the organisers said.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in