NEXT MONTH
On sale 8 February 2018The mysterious last voyage
of Donald Crowhurst
It’s 50 years since the single-handed
sailor disappeared while apparently
leading the Sunday Times Golden
Globe Race. Now a film has been
released about Donald Crowhurst.
But what happened to him and why?
Nic Compton recounts the tragedyEuropean Yacht of the Year
Judges from the leading European
sailing magazines reveal their top
new launches following trials of all of
them last autumn. Toby was on the
panel and tells us all about the best
yachts of the yearA man with a plan
Pete Goss has long left behind
his ocean racing career. Now he
has taken off to cruise round the
world with his wife in his new 45ft
aluminium yachtInto the Southern Ocean
The Volvo Race returns to some of
the world’s most challenging race
conditions and we look at how the
teams, first-timers and old hands,
fare as they race between Cape
To w n a n d M e l b o u r n en abandoned yacht ran aground
under full sail in December at
Lambeau in Tobago after the
skipper was lost overboard and his wife
evacuated at sea.
The yacht, Vagrant, a Bavaria 44, was
being sailed across the Atlantic by Polish
couple Stanislaw Dabrowny, 74, and his
wife, Elzbieta Dabrowna, 67. They left the
Canary Islands on 24 November and were
around 450 miles from Barbados when
Dabrowny fell overboard.
According to later reports, he was
trying to retrieve the spinnaker at night
when he fell or was knocked overboard.
He was not clipped on and a report
from his family said he was not wearing
a lifejacket.
His wife used the satellite phone to
call their daughter Agnieszka two days
later. Their daughter wrote: “It was an
odd phone call from our mum screaming
the name but the connection was
interrupted. There’s no signal now.”
Dabrowna is reported not to have been
able to turn the boat round or to be able
to continue sailing the yacht. A report
from a Polish friend stated she was
“alone on board without the skills and
ability to control the yacht and navigation
equipment”.
According to one report, a sheet hadWife rescued after
husband lost overboard
wrapped round the yacht’s propeller.
The MRCC in Fort-de-France,
Martinique established a search area to
look for the skipper and diverted a ship
to assist. Dabrowna was taken on board
the MV Orange Star, en route to Brazil, on
27 November. The yacht was left drifting,
still under full sail and with the spinnaker
snuffer still aloft on a halyard.
The yacht’s logbook gave the last
position, as written by the skipper, and
from this a search area was established.
Many yachts were passing through the
area on the ARC and ARC+ rallies, but
nothing was seen. The yacht ran up on
the reef in Tobago on 30 November.The yacht Vagrant
was abandoned
at sea after
her skipper fell
overboard and
his wife had to be
rescuedYACHT ABANDONED UNDER FULL SAIL RUNS AGROUND
Missing Polish sailor Stanislaw Dabrowny and his wife Elzbieta
Dabrowna pictured together before the accident on their yachtA
Jeremie Lecaudy / Volvo Ocean RaceDerek WhitlingFebruary 2018 19