Team considers building replacement for stricken Volvo Ocean Race yacht

Team Vesta during leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town in the Volvo Ocean Race. Photo / Brian Carlin

A racing team employing two Kiwi sailors is considering building a new yacht at breakneck speed to re-enter the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Team Vestas Wind crew, including Kiwi yachtsmen Rob Salthouse and Tony Rae, had to abandon ship when their yacht ran aground during the round-the-world race just over a week ago.

Salthouse earlier told his family it was a miracle no one was injured when the yacht smashed into the reef in the indian Ocean at 20 knots, about 37km/h.

The yacht was a wreck - but the team had not given up hope.

"It is Vestas' clear ambition to get Team Vestas Wind out sailing again," said Morten Albaek, the sailing team's chief executive, at a press conference in Abu Dhabi this morning. "We'll do everything within our means to make that happen."

The next race would not happen until 2017.

Jon Bramley, Volvo Ocean Race news and media director, said it would be impressive if Team Vestas Wind rejoined the race with a new yacht.

"Normally they take nine months to build. They've been talking about doing it [in] two-thirds of that time if not less, just to get back in the race again. If they can pull that off, or even embark on it, it will be quite a challenge for them."

The crew were leaving Abu Dhabi and going "their own ways, at least for the short term," Mr Bramley said.

Earlier this morning, New Zealand time, the team's Aussie skipper Chris Nicholson and Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak shed some light on the accident.

"Prior to the crash in the preceding 48 hours, Wouter and I...noticed that there would be some seamounts. When I saw those I asked what the depths and the currents and the wave conditions would be," Nicholson said.

"Wouter's reply was that the depths went from 3000 metres to 40 metres, (which) were the extremes of the depths, the current was negligible and we would monitor the wave state as we approached..." the skipper said.

"It was a stressful time, but we need to back up and remember that this was bought on by a simple human error?we didn't look at the chart and we didn't zoom in enough," Nicholson said.

"In hindsight we would've continued to zoom in on the area much more, on the electronic charts," Verbraak said. "Not doing so is the big mistake that I made, but the good thing is that we didn't make any more."

It was understood legal or insurance issues had prevented some crew members from going into more detail about the wreck.

This morning, Team Vestas Wind said it still wanted to retrieve the wrecked boat, grounded on the Cargados Carajos Shoals (also known as St Brandon) some 420km northeast of Mauritius.