Beagle Channel yacht tragedy
by Sail-World Round-up on 17 Dec 2010
Nashachata wrecked in Beagle Channel SW
World cruising yacht Nashchata has this week smashed into rocks in the Beagle Channel during a violent storm, and two of the crew have been killed.
The 16.1 metre steel expedition yacht was in the middle of a world cruise and just returned from Antarctica when it lost power during the 60knot storm and decided to try to take cover in Sloggett Bay.
The seas were reaching five metres at the time. The same storm was responsible for tearing off roofs and downing trees in the nearby city of Ushuaia, the most southerly town in the world.
However, some time after they anchored successfully in the bay the mast broke and the anchor rode gave way, throwing the skipper of the yacht,Marek (Mark) Radwanski, a Polish sporting goods executive, and his brother Pawel (Paul) into the icy water.
Radwanski had taken over as skipper of the yacht at the end of November, and was due to finish his term on reaching Ushuaia in a couple of days. He had earlier skippered the yacht through Polynesia.
Argentinian Navy officer Martin Ribeiro told The Associated Press: 'The weather conditions were very bad.'
The sailors' emergency distress signal was picked up by the Chilean navy, which has a base in Port Williams on the southern side of the channel, and was passed to the Argentinian navy, which despite the dangerous conditions sent two boats out to search for the boat in Argentine waters.
Five surviving crew members made it to shore, where they huddled overnight before the weather eased and they could be rescued Tuesday. One of the crew suffered a head wound, but all reached Ushuaia safely.
Pilot Roberto Valdez of the Heli-Ushuaia tourism company, which assisted in the search because the navy lacks helicopters in the region, spotted the brothers' bodies Tuesday afternoon, washed up on beaches at some distance from the wreck.
Nashachata, supported by Polish sailing magazine Zagle, set off on its maiden voyage in October 2007. In 2008, the vessel started a cruise around the world which was planned to end in 2011. The yacht sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, along the eastern coast of South America, and stopped in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Easter Island.
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