A crew member taking part in this year’s ARC rally has been lost overboard from a Volvo 70 yacht mid-Atlantic, the US MRCC has ended the active search for 33-year-old Swedish sailor Dag Eresund
A crew member taking part in this year’s ARC rally has been lost overboard.
Yesterday, Monday 2 December, the Volvo 70 Ocean Breeze reported that a crew member had gone overboard mid-Atlantic at approximately 0230am.
The yacht’s position was approximately 130 nautical miles east of Bermuda, sailing in WNW winds of 20-25 knots with gusts up to 30 knots.
A search was initiated, coordinated by MRCC Norfolk USA and involved Ocean Breeze, another ARC entrant, the Vismara 62 Leaps & Bounds 2, and motor yacht, Project X, an 88m superyacht. Air cover was not possible due to the distance of the incident from land.
Rally organisers World Cruising Club (WCC) confirmed this morning that, with loss of daylight and in worsening seas, MRCC Norfolk had ended the active search at 20:45 UTC on Monday 2 December. After around 19 hours of searching, Ocean Breeze also resumed its passage westwards.
A crew member from the Volvo 70 Ocean Breeze was lost overboard during the 2024 ARC. Tracker shows Ocean Breeze (blue) and nearby yacht Leaps & Bounds 2 (red), which assisted in the search.
A statement by the WCC added: “[The] MRCC has requested that all vessels able, should amend course to pass through the search area of 2024.838N 043o11.623W and to keep a sharp lookout for any signs of a person in the water.
“All ARC yachts have been asked to assist with MRCC’s request.
“This area will be amended over time to take account of drift rates and weather conditions. MRCC Norfolk will continue to provide updated coordinates.”
The statement also confirmed that he family had given permission for the casualty to be named.
“It is with great sadness that World Cruising Club confirms that 33-year-old Swedish sailor Dag Eresund was lost overboard from yacht Ocean Breeze on Monday 2 December at 02:27 UTC.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Dag Eresund’s family and friends and with all the crew members on Ocean Breeze at this unbelievably difficult time.
“We thank the skippers and crew of Leaps & Bounds 2 and Project X for diverting to assist in the search.”
It is understood that the casualty was wearing an automatically inflatable lifejacket with a personal AIS beacon attached, but no further information about the circumstances of the incident are yet known.
The Volvo 70 Ocean Breeze formerly raced as Telefonica Blue and Team Sanya in the Volvo Ocean Race. Photo: Team Sanya/Volvo Ocean Race
Ocean Breeze is an Austrian-flagged Volvo 70 and one of 11 yachts sailing in the IRC racing division of the rally. Yachts in this division must comply with the World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations for Category 1 and the World Cruising Club safety equipment requirements.
It is a 2008 Farr designed ocean race boat, formerly called Telefonica Blue, which competed in the 2008 Volvo Ocean Race with Dutch Skipper Bouwe Bekking, finishing 3rd. It was then refitted and raced as Sanya in a Chinese/Irish entry in the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race with skipper Mike Sanderson, finishing 6th.
Like many of the former Volvo 70s, it has most recently been used to take charter clients offshore racing, on corporate sailing trips and similar.
In what has been an exceptionally challenging 24 hours for the ARC fleet, in a separate incident the crew of a Leopard 45 has abandoned ship. All crew were safely rescued.
At 0300 (UTC) on Monday 2 December, the Swedish-flagged Leopard 45 catamaran Karolina Viking issued a ‘Mayday’, reporting a leak in the starboard engine compartment.
In coordination with MRCC Cape Verde, the skipper decided to head to the Cape Verde islands under the port motor, approx 300NM upwind.
At around 1200hrs, another ARC yacht, Cinderella di Ranremo, rendezvous’d with Karolina Viking to offer support. Meanwhile the catamaran Akula, also taking part in the ARC, diverted their course towards the rendezvous area as well.
Karolina Viking reported that the leak was originating from around the rudder stock base in the starboard engine compartment. There was some water ingress into other areas of the starboard hull and the boat’s electrical system began to be affected by the flooding.
The 1985 Jongert 20DS Cinderella di Sanremo GBR successfully rescued all five crew from the Leopard 45 Karolina Viking after they suffered water ingress and abandoned ship during the 2024 ARC transatlantic.
Yesterday afternoon the skipper and crew decided to abandon ship. All five crew safely transferred from Karolina Viking to join the five crew of the 22.5m Jongert Cinderella di Sanremo.
In a third separate incident, another vessel, Team JolieF, also put into Cape Verde as a crew member required non-emergency medical assistance.
In total, 820 people onboard 140 yachts are sailing in ARC 2024. The event departed from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Sunday 24 November, sailing 2,700 miles across the Atlantic to Saint Lucia.
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