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Sail-World.com : Aussie sailor missing from yacht off South Africa
Aussie sailor missing from yacht off South Africa
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One sailor has been washed overboard and the mast of the Australian yacht, Cowrie Dancer broken, in a fierce storm in the Southern Ocean, approximately 750 miles off Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The Cape Times today reported the SA Agulhas was steaming through rough seas in an attempt to resuce the remaining crew of the yacht.
Australian sailor John Blackman, 55, from Claremont WA was washed overboard in swells between five and eight metres and initial attempts to find him were unsuccessful. The yacht is believed to be motoring towards the SA Agulhas, which is expected to rendezvous about noon, GMT.
The boat's skipper, Dale Peterson, is believed to have suffered a broken leg, whilst crew member Nicholas Lawson is reported to have scalp bruises, cuts, and a possible broken hip. South African sailor Carol Erasmus was uninjured in the incident.
Jacques Smit of South Africa's Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre is co-coordinating the rescue.
The Cape Times reported Smit as saying 'the Australian Maritime Rescue Centre had picked up Cowrie Dancer's distress call and had relayed the information to the South African rescue centre because the yacht was in the South African rescue area.'
'We got the call at 7.30pm on Monday. Reports were that they had lost their mizzen, that's the mast towards the back of the yacht, and that one crew member was missing overboard. I assume it was because of bad weather.
'Earlier, the yacht was sailing back towards the place where they lost the man overboard, but now they have turned around and are heading towards the Agulhas.'
The Perth based Swan 57 left Cape Town on Monday en route back to Fremantle, where it had set sail on October 26th last year. Cowrie Dancer headed for Hobart and then sailed through the Patagonian channel to Chile and down to Antarctica, before sailing back to Cape Town.
A well-known and experienced yachtsman, Blackman joined the Cowrie Dancer in Ushuaia, Argentina on February 16 and although reports indicate Blackman was wearing an inflatable safety harness, by last night he had been in freezing waters for almost 24 hours, and hopes for his survival were fading.
by Sail-World
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http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=33256
1:39 AM Wed 2 May 2007 GMT
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