A snapped keel is believed to have caused the vessel to overturn off Lady Elliot Island near Gladstone, Queensland
One man is dead and two others have been winched to safety after their yacht capsized, triggering a major search and rescue operation off the central Queensland coast.
A snapped keel is believed to have caused the vessel to overturn off Lady Elliot Island near Gladstone early on Sunday.
Continue reading...The 78th edition of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race has begun under dark skies that threatened to be much worse as the scheduled start time approached.
Thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds blanketed Sydney Harbour an hour before the 1pm AEDT start but cleared as the 103-vessel fleet jostled for position.
Continue reading...Yachtsman Kenichi Horie repeats trick after becoming first person to successfully take on feat in 1962
Before he set off, Kenichi Horie said his only fear about sailing solo non-stop across the Pacific Ocean was his age. But on Saturday, the 83-year-old – known as “Japan’s most famous yachtsman” – proved it was not an obstacle after all as he became the world’s oldest person to complete the challenge.
After more than two months at sea, the record-breaking octogenarian, who in 1962 also became the first person to successfully take on the feat, arrived in the waters off the Kii peninsula in western Japan at 2.39am local time.
Continue reading...The Tunisian Olympic sailor Eya Guezguez has died in a training accident at the age of 17, the International Olympic Committee has announced.
Guezguez, who represented Tunisia at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games, was sailing with her twin sister, Sarra, when their boat capsized in strong winds. Eya died in the accident while Sarra, who competed alongside her in Tokyo in the 49er FX category, survived.
Continue reading...Marathon runner Eddie Izzard, solo sailor Pip Hare and explorer Levison Wood explain what they have learned about enduring the seemingly unendurable
It just goes on and on, doesn’t it? Despite the millions of vaccinations, and Boris Johnson’s “roadmap” for easing the lockdown, this pandemic is feeling increasingly like an endurance test – a marathon, followed by another marathon, followed by another. Or trudging for miles and miles across the desert for day after day. Or sailing alone around the world, battling storms and loneliness. How do you keep going? There are people who know a thing or two about that – keeping going, endurance, deserts and storms. Perhaps they might even have some advice.
Continue reading...Greece’s president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, has praised the Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou for dissolving a potential “conspiracy of silence” by reporting a historic allegation of sexual assault by a sports official.
Bekatorou, who won a gold medal at the Athens Games in 2004, told the Greek edition of Marie Claire last month that she suffered the assault in 1998, when she was 21. Sakellaropoulou met Bekatorou on Monday and said her courage offered hope to other women in her situation.
Continue reading...During the Vendee Globe, boats have broken apart and sleep is caught in snatches. The yachtswoman – currently in 18th place and still going – explains the dangerous thrill of racing solo
Pip Hare has just a few things to sort out, and she needs to have a check outside. She will text me again when she is free to chat, which she does. Hi, Pip, where are you? “Heading south-east across the South Atlantic,” she replies, cheerfully, casually, as if she was saying she was heading home across the park.
I can hear the South Atlantic, fizzing past in the background, and the creaks and groans of her 60ft boat Medallia, as it blasts towards the Southern Ocean. It’s glorious out there, she says. “The wind is moderate, the sea quite flat, the sky as blue as can be, with just a smattering of clouds, a sign that the low pressure is catching up with me. I’ve got three sails up, the boat is full of energy, flying along at between 18 and 20 knots. The colours are amazing.”
Continue reading...Three orcas rammed a boat off the coast of Spain.
The incident lasted 45 minutes, during which the animals bit off part of the the sailing boat's rudder as the crew had to travel to a port in Galicia to check for further damage.
A number of incidents involving orcas and sailing boats have been reported near Spanish and Portuguese coasts, but the reasons behind the behaviour are still not clear
Continue reading...From the Strait of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crew
Full story: ‘I’ve never seen or heard of attacks’ – scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats
Scientists have been left baffled by incidents of orcas ramming sailing boats along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts.
In the last two months, from southern to northern Spain, sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage.
Continue reading...With no active Covid-19 cases, NZ to open borders to certain migrants but the move will also help team American Magic for March 2021 competition
New Zealand is relaxing its borders to grant exemptions for certain workers – including America’s Cup sailors – and partners of New Zealand citizens to enter the country.
The move comes after 21 days with no new Covid-19 cases across the country and no current live cases.
Continue reading...Series of events include exhibition of portraits by Welsh artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, poetry and vigils
It was the summer storm that roared without warning into the Celtic Sea, unleashing monster waves that ambushed a fleet of 303 boats competing in the Fastnet race.
Instead of skimming along the south coast of the UK to the Fastnet Rock off south-west Ireland, sailors found themselves battling for life against howling winds and walls of water. Dozens of yachts capsized, trapping crews in their cabins and tossing others into the foam.
Continue reading...Olympic authorities reduce crowd size to make evacuations easier
The organisers of next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo have decided to cut the number of spectators for the sailing events by a third so they can be quickly evacuated to higher ground in the event of a tsunami.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics organising committee had initially planned to allow up to 5,000 people to watch the sailing events off Enoshima island, just south of the Japanese capital, according to the public broadcaster NHK.
Continue reading...A 73-year-old French sailor has won an unusual, around-the-world yacht race after 212 days alone at sea without modern instruments, in what was his first sailing victory.
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede arrived on Tuesday in Les Sables d’Olonne in western France in his 35-foot yacht Matmut, the first boat to finish the 30,000-mile Golden Globe race. Of the 19 sailors who started out last July, only five were still in the race on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Yacht spotted near Kangaroo Island off South Australian coast after being abandoned by 16-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland in 2010
Eight and a half years after it was abandoned in the middle of the Indian Ocean when 16-year-old solo sailor Abby Sunderland had to be rescued in rough seas, a yellow yacht named Wild Eyes has been found floating upside down off the coast of South Australia.
The 40-foot yacht was encrusted with barnacles, the signature eyes on the hull scratched and faded. Its mast snapped off in the wild weather that forced Sunderland’s rescue midway through her world record attempt to be the youngest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe in 2010.
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