Yachting: Sailor swept off in the blink of an eye

Dutch sailor Hans Horrevoets was just a minute away from fitting his harness and lifejacket when he was washed overboard in the seventh leg of the round-the-world yacht race.

Speaking for the first time since Horrevoets died, the ABN Amro Two crew, which includes New Zealander Scott Beavis, revealed Horrevoets was about to go below deck and get equipped for building stormy conditions in the Atlantic Ocean, 1300 miles from the English coast.

Having just completed a sail change to deal with the increasing wind, skipper Sebastien Josse told his crew on watch to attach their harnesses and put on their lifejackets.

At the time Horrevoets, 32, was trimming the spinnaker.

As everyone cannot go below deck at once it is general practice that whoever is trimming the spinnaker goes below last.

But in the short time he had to wait, a wave washed over the deck. When the water cleared the Dutchman was no longer on board.

Everyone else on deck was clipped on. In a matter of 30 seconds or a minute Horrevoets would have been too.

The crew immediately saw that Horrevoets was gone.

The man overboard button was hit, a life ring and a buoy were dropped, the sails lowered and the boat turned back.

About half a mile from the man overboard position the first life ring was found then 0.2 of a mile further Horrevoets was found.

"The swell was too big, but we tried once to get to him," said crew member Simeon Tienpont

"Seb decided not to go from the boat again, but to do another two laps and this time he came really close to the boat, and we could grab him.

"By the time we found Hans, we saw he was drowned."

Tienpont said they tried to resuscitate him on board.

"We tried to warm him up. George [Peet] and I spoke to the doctors in the UK, and asked them for advice."

Resuscitation ended at 0420. Horrevoets was dead.

Crew member Lucas Brun said it was extremely traumatic.

"He was trimming, joking with you, the next minute we were dragging him out of the water.

"Nothing can prepare you for that.

"Accidents do happen. This was an accident, it could have happened to any one of us."

Two days later, ABN Amro Two found themselves involved in another rescue.

They went to the aid of Spanish entry movistar after the keel on their yacht failed and the boat started filling with water.

The 10 movistar sailors were forced to abandon ship.

"The fact that we rescued the team from movistar and that we were able to save 10 extra lives was an amazing feat," said Josse.

ABN Amro Two have yet to decide whether they will continue in the race.

The next leg from Portsmouth to Rotterdam starts on June 2. The race finishes in Sweden in June.