Yachting World — February 2018

ritish soldiers on a yacht training
sail rescued five sailors from the
sea off Tenerife after a Comet
45S yacht lost its keel.
Skipper Colonel Neil Wilson was sailing
with a crew of six on the Royal Artillery
YC’s Rustler 42 St Barbara V
when the incident took place. The
crew were all from 29 Commando
Regiment in Plymouth and were on a
military adventurous training exercise to
introduce novice sailors to yachting.
Wilson reports that they were returning
to port in the late afternoon, and had
rounded Punta Rasca approaching the
town of Las Galletas on the southern end
of Tenerife in company with a another
yacht, Tyger of London, a Comet 45S.
Winds had risen over the course of the
day to a Force 6, gusting 7 with rough
seas created by an easterly blowing
around the headland of Punta Rasca.
“We were sailing in close proximity for
about 30 minutes when the wind began
to rise to Force 6-plus and we put the
second reef in the main,” says Wilson.
“Ty g e r followed suit ten minutes later
and as she came back onto the wind she
broached and lost her keel. Her mast hit

Five rescued after keel

failure off Tenerife

the water and she capsized, turning turtle

within 30 seconds. We sent an immediate

Mayday call, dropped our headsails,

started the engine and turned to assist.”

He says that when Ty g e r broached:

“To my mind it did not look right. She

broached and sat at a very strange angle

• too far over – for a couple of seconds
  before capsizing. The crew were clinging
  on, just like you would to a dinghy.”
  The skipper of Ty g e r later told Wilson
  that the crew had heard a loud pinging
  noise approximately five seconds before
  the broach, which they described as like
  an ‘electric shock’ which they could feel
  through the hull.
  Of the five German and Swiss crew on
  board Ty g e r, four men were thrown clear

during the capsize but one female sailor

was trapped underneath the cockpit

by her harness line. Her partner dived

under the transom of the boat to retrieve

her from the air pocket underneath the

boat. By the time the crew of St Barbara

V had dropped the headsail and turned

around there were five crew in the water,

all wearing lifejackets, who had drifted

about 200m downwind of their yacht.

The military crew threw a heaving line

and a fender on a long warp as recovery

lines, recovering the first three crew in

one attempt. They were then brought on

board using the Rustler’s stern ladder,

with the soldier crew providing manpower

to haul the sailors on to the deck.

Wilson and his team then picked up the

female crew member and her partner,

though recovery was more difficult as

the woman was in shock and less able to

climb. She was also wearing her lifejacket

under her waterproof jacket, which made

it harder to haul her on board.

Wilson estimates that less then 30

minutes from sending the Mayday

message he and his team had recovered

all five casualties, before motoring to the

nearest harbour of Las Galletas.

One of the slowest ARC transatlantic

rallies in recent years was perversely

also one of the windiest. As established

tradewinds eluded the 186 yachts,

instead a variety of challenging weather

systems, from storms to dead calms,

filled the void and tested the crews.

Yachts that tracked north were

embroiled in two successive low pressure

systems with headwinds over 40 knots

while, to the south, crews were entrapped

by flat calms. It all made for crossings

five or six days slower than usual.

Line honours in the ARC went, for the

first time in many years, to a multihull,

French sailor Christian Guyader’s TS

catamaran Guyader Gastronomie.

Guyader and Belgian skipper, Bart

Vanhaverbeke, sailed across in 14 days, a

good preparation for Guyader’s entry in

the solo Route du Rhum later this year.

The rally had its fair share of tales,

including a medical evacuation at sea –

see our report on page 38.

Storms and calms plague ARC rally

The Comet 45S

Tyger of London

lost its keel

and capsized

immediately

The crew of St

Barbara V at Las

Galletas, having

just discharged

the casualties,

and holding

Tyge r’s lifebuoy

BRITISH SOLDIERS RECOVER ALL CREW FROM THE

WATER WITHIN HALF AN HOUR OF YACHT CAPSIZE

B

North Star/ARC

ON THE WIND

14 February 2018