Following a night of fighting their keel problems after the aft end of
their keel pivot bearing broke away from the hull, Volvo Ocean skipper Bouwe Bekking and the Movistar crew abandoned their vessel and have safely transferred via life raft to ABN Amro Two which has been standing by since approximately
2200 GMT Saturday night.

‘The hardest decision I ever taken in my life, was the call to abandon
ship,’ said Bouwe Bekking, movistar, skipper. ‘This morning we gybed over
to check how the keel would cope with that angle. Straight away we saw
that the water intake nearly doubled and had to start the second
emergency pump. That made me realize that we were actually in way bigger
trouble. ‘

The telemetry from Movistar’s sailing instruments stopped on Sunday
afternoon and speculation suggests that the rig might have gone over the
side.