 |
 |
|
|
Whitbread 1973 Three sailors were killed during the first Whitbread round-the-world yacht race in 1973, all in the Southern Ocean. First, one man was washed overboard from an Italian yacht that was broached (turned sharply sideways on to the waves) in a storm where winds reached 45mph. Four days later, a French woman died in similar circumstances. Then, a crew member of the eventual race winner, Chay Blyth, was lost when he fell into the icy waters of the Roaring Forties (an area of strong winds between latitudes 40 and 50°S) between New Zealand and Cape Horn. A four-hour search failed to find him. Blyth was later criticised for not looking long enough, but others said that hypothermia would have claimed the sailor anyway. Of the 17 competitors, 14 yachts completed the journey, Blyth taking first place in 144 days. In the 1989 race, five competitors were swept overboard, again in the Southern Ocean. Two were picked up straightaway. One, a Briton, died when the crew of his boat took half an hour to locate him, but the remaining two were saved because they were carrying newly developed personal radio distress beacons. Fastnet 1979 Competitors in the Fastnet race, which takes place every odd-numbered year, begin at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, sail across the Irish Sea to round the Fastnet Rock off County Cork, and then dash to the finish line at Plymouth – a course of 605 miles. The worst disaster to hit yacht racing happened during the 1979 Fastnet race when 15 sailors died as they were returning from the Irish coast. The yachts had set sail in calm conditions but were hit two days later by a force 10 storm, just below hurricane strength. Of the 303 starters, five boats sank completely and 19 were abandoned but later recovered; only 85 boats completed the race. The winner was billionaire TV magnate Ted Turner who, despite having been well ahead of the worst of the weather, later described conditions as 'rough as hell'. The five men died as a result of being swept overboard by massive waves or suffering hypothermia in a life-raft. A further 136 sailors had to be rescued. Today, all participants have access to immediate weather updates and better foul-weather gear and are obliged to use clip-on safety harnesses. Vendée Globe 1997 A more recent dramatic sea rescue resulted, not in any deaths, but in a greatly publicised story of survival. British skipper Tony Bullimore was competing in the French-organised Vendée Globe round-the-world solo yacht race, which began in November 1996 in France. In January, he was about 2,000 miles south-west of Australia and 1,000 miles north of Antarctica when his 20m (65ft) yacht capsized in winds reaching 70mph and waves up to 12m (40ft) high. The water in the area was below 0°C (32°F) – salt water has a lower freezing point than fresh water. Broken and upside down, the yacht was battered by stormy seas for four days, its distress beacon having drifted away. Bullimore remained under his yacht, inside a sealed sleeping compartment, until rescued by an Australian navy frigate. He said that he owed his life to 'sheer determination, a little water and a little chocolate'. In the rescue's aftermath, there was criticism of the move to lighter materials in yacht design, which may have sacrificed safety for speed. Chay Blyth, the winner of the 1973 Whitbread, claimed that the design of the yachts in the Globe Vendée was untested. But retired solo sailor Ian Johnston, a friend of Bullimore's, said that there was no way to halt such races. 'You can't stop people climbing Mount Everest,' he said. 'This is the Everest of sailing.' |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
