World Cruising Club confirmed on Tuesday that 33-year-old Swedish sailor Dag Eresund was lost overboard from the Volvo Open 70 racing yacht Ocean Breeze early Monday morning while participating in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC).
A search was coordinated in the Atlantic Ocean by Marine Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Norfolk USA and involved Ocean Breeze, ARC yacht Leaps & Bounds 2 and motor vessel Project X. World Cruising Club stated that air cover was not possible due to the distance of the incident from land.
MRCC Norfolk ended the active search 18 hours later due to diminishing daylight and worsening sea conditions. It has requested that all able vessels amend course to pass through the search area of 20o24.838N 043o11.623W and keep a sharp lookout for any signs of a person in the water.
These coordinates will be updated over time to account for drift rates and weather conditions, and MRCC Norfolk will continue to provide updates.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Dag Eresund’s family and friends and with all the crew members on Ocean Breeze at this unbelievably difficult time,” World Cruising Club said in an emailed statement. “We thank the skippers and crew of Leaps & Bounds 2 and Project X for diverting to assist in the search.”
The ARC rally started last Sunday with over 140 boats routing from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia.
