Fed: Sea rescue after a day of disaster for yacht race

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-1998
Fed: Sea rescue after a day of disaster for yacht race

By Steve Connolly, Rod McGuirk and Don Woolford

CANBERRA, Dec 28 AAP - Emergency services tonight completed a dramatic sea rescue of four
stricken Sydney to Hobart sailors after a tragic day for the blue water classic in which three
people died.

Two yachtsmen were confirmed dead, one was washed overboard presumed dead and five crew
from the vintage cutter Winston Churchill were still missing in the 54-year-old event's
greatest disaster.

Rescue services launched one of Australia's biggest maritime rescue efforts as swells of up
to 10 metres caused a seagoing nightmare.

There was a bright light at the end of a dark day for race organisers when four crew
members of the Sydney-based yacht Winston Churchill were found safe and well on a liferaft.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the four crew, including skipper Richard
Winning, were taken by helicopter to the NSW south coast town of Merimbula.

"They appear to be cold and wet but are otherwise OK," said an AMSA spokesman.

But rescue services were still searching for a second liferaft carrying five other crew
from the vintage cutter. The second liferaft had been tied to the first but they had come
apart in the huge seas.

The Sydney-Hobart emergency was looking to rival yachting's worst disaster, the 1979
Admirals Cup Fastnet Race off southern England, which claimed 19 lives.

The Tasmanian yacht Business Post-Naiad became a floating coffin off the southern NSW coast
with two dead crew members left inside the upturned boat after their seven colleagues were
rescued from the mountainous seas.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said the dead crew members were the yacht's owner
Bruce Guy and Phil Skeggs, both of Launceston.

A third fatality was thought to be English yachtsman Glyn Charles, missing since last night
when he was swept away from the Sword of Orion.

Officials said half the fleet of 115 yachts which started from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day
had pulled out of the event or were sheltering from the terrible conditions.

Meanwhile, the giant American maxi Sayonara was enjoying better weather as it headed down
the Tasmanian east coast and was expected to claim line honours early tomorrow.

Rescue efforts tonight were concentrating on the Winston Churchill, an entrant in the first
Sydney-Hobart in 1945 and named in honour of the British wartime prime minister.

The 18m Winston Churchill, built in 1942, was competing in the event for the 16th time.

More than 30 military and civil aircraft were involved in the search and rescue effort,
including 17 planes looking for the Winston Churchill, which radioed last night saying it was
taking heavy water off Eden near the NSW-Victorian border.

There had previously been only two fatalities in the annual race event. In 1984 a crew
member was washed overboard from the yacht Yahoo Two and in 1989 a sailor was struck and
killed by a boom on the yacht Flying Colours.

Race officials said Mr Charles, who has sailed in four Admirals Cups and represented
Britain in the star class at the Atlanta Olympics where he finished 11th, was lost from the
damaged 15m Sword of Orion as it made its way to Eden on the NSW south coast.

AMSA, which is organising the search, believed Mr Guy, from Launceston, suffered a heart
attack when the Naiad rolled in heavy seas. Mr Skeggs apparently drowned in his safety harness
when the yacht overturned.

Seven colleagues, including Mr Guy's nephew, were winched aboard a helicopter and flown to
Pambula District Hospital, 400km south of Sydney.

One of the crew members of Naiad, which last Easter won Tasmania's Three Peaks race, was
being kept in hospital overnight and a hospital spokeswoman said he was in a stable condition.

The Pambula Hospital treated 25 crew from three stricken yachts for minor injuries and
exposure.

Peter Wright, 35, of Townsville, was treated at Pambula for a fractured vertebrae and
shoulder after his yacht High Flier was almost rolled in the monstrous seas.

A veteran of five Sydney-Hobart races, Mr Wright said conditions in Bass Strait were the
worst he had experienced.

"It was wind against tide, it was like a washing machine at the start of the Strait," he
said.

Despite the tragedy, Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer defended the Sydney-Hobart event and
paid tribute to the emergency services.

"I guess some people will ask should there be a Sydney-Hobart yacht race. Yes, there should
be but any loss of life from sporting and recreational events is particularly tragic," Mr
Fischer told reporters in Melbourne.

"I just salute the work of our search and rescue people, both the civilian arm and also the
navy, the airforce and others involved in the Bass Strait.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who are missing and it's a case of
fingers crossed as that work continues to unfold."

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Mark Croxford said he expected the search effort by civilian
aircraft for Winston Churchill would be scaled down at nightfall with Australian Defence Force
aircraft and helicopters taking a leading role.

He said defence assets committed to the rescue operation were two Sea Hawk and two Sea King
helicopters from Nowra, two P3-C Orion aircraft from Edinburgh, South Australia, and two C-130
Hercules from Richmond, NSW.

Because of the need to refuel and to rest crew members, not all are available at any one
time.

In addition, the guided missile frigate HMAS Newcastle was expected to rendezvous later
tonight with the the Solar Globe Challenger about 90 nautical miles off Green Cape near the
NSW-Vic border.

Three crew members were earlier winched to safety, while five others, two with injuries,
stayed aboard.

Newcastle was then expected to proceed to area off Gabo Island to assist in the search for
Winston Churchill.

AAP sc/sco/de

KEYWORD: SYDHOB SECOND NIGHTLEAD

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