Nat TaylorBlog, AI, Product Management & Tinkering

Open Ocean, a Reef and the VO65 That Hit It

Published on .

Team Vestas crashed into the Cargados Carajos shoal in the middle of the Indian Ocean while going over 19 knots in the middle of the night (1510 UTC) on Saturday, November 29, 2014.  Everyone is safe, so now we can begin to comprehend what happened.

Tracks of the other competitors showing just how close other boats came.
Tracks of the other competitors showing just how close other boats came.

For my non-sailing friends: hitting something at night is the ocean racer’s worst nightmare; it is the equivalent of hitting a jersey barrier going 25MPH in your car without your headlights on.  The footage, photos and coverage are legendary and unprecedented.  Everyone I know and myself included is in disbelief.

I will add a link to expert commentary about the navigation error once its available.  Read this post by scrolling down to the pictures and video below, then if you want to learn more, try some of the links.

Update at 9:19AM EST 12/7/2014: More and more responses are being written so I’ve updated this post a little bit to reflect that.

Assorted links:

Video of the Crash

See similar footage on YouTube or read more at Sailing World.
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Map of Cargados Carajos Shoal

Follow Up Footage

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More Photos

Vestas on the Reef
Vestas damage and scale.
Vestas on the Reef
Vestas on the Reef
Aerial view of shipwrecked Vestas
Aerial view of shipwrecked Vestas

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