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Volvo Ocean Race boat recovered from reef

Team Vestas Wind’s stranded Volvo Ocean Race boat has been retrieved from a remote reef in the Indian Ocean and is on its way back to Europe for a rebuild.

The Volvo Ocean 65 was abandoned after running aground on 29 November during Leg 2 of the round-the-world race. All crew members were safely rescued.

In a delicate three-day operation, the boat was floated clear of the reef in St Brandon and on to a nearby lagoon under the watchful eyes of Team Vestas Wind shore manager Neil Cox and skipper Chris Nicholson. From there it was lifted on to a waiting Maersk Line ship.

Team Vestas Wind’s boat rescued

Potential Return

The team will make an announcement before the start of Leg 3 on 3 January about the chance of a potential return to the race later on in this edition.

Inmarsat is the official Satellite Communications Partner for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15. Thanks to having FleetBroadband on board and an IsatPhone 2 satellite phone in their liferaft pack, the crew were able to maintain contact with their shoreside team when disaster struck and while they waited 48 hours to be picked up from the remote islet where they were shipwrecked.