Crewmember Alex Gough of Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag was washed overboard by a wave during a sail change on Sunday in winds of 15-20 knots, midway through Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race. Lucky for him it was daytime, otherwise, we’d be reporting a very different story.
“He went out on the outrigger, I was driving, and we went off a big sea and it picked him up threw him off, like a horse,” skipper David Witt said, adding that at the time Gough was wearing neither a harness nor a lifejacket. At minimum, Witt said, Gough should have told him what he was doing, before he went outside the lifelines on the outrigger.
“I was pretty stupid, but luckily the guys were on to it. They turned around bloody quickly. I’m good. I’m fine. It was a bit scary… But off we go again,” Gough said, afterward as the visibly shaken crew got back to racing.
January 2018
