Remote Pacific rescue after freak gybe - read the story

by Nancy Knudsen on 25 May 2010 The rescue of a sailor 1,400 miles off the North American coastline with a freak injury caused by a flying gybe is a stark reminder to make sure your preventer is in good enough condition to take any kind of weather.

American sailor Mike Kalahar was rescued from a Beneteau 36S7, skippered by Dutch sailor Rudy Heessels, about 1,400 miles southwest of La Paz, Mexico, when he sustained head and larynx injuries last month after an accidental gybe. Most swinging booms cause head injuries, sometimes fatal, but in this case the sailor was pinned around the throat by the mainsail sheet.

Here is the story, as related by the skipper to Ken Newell in the yacht Trim. The story would be good material for a lesson on the number of things that can go wrong in an emergency at sea, and will make any sailor pay more attention in their next First Aid course:

At about 5 AM Michael Kalahar and another crew member were on watch when a sudden swell twisted the vessel sideways back winding the main and causing the sail to travel hard to port. In doing so, the force of the reloaded sail shredded the preventer line allowing the main sail to travel at high speed across the cockpit and swing the mainsheet across the face of Michael Kalahar thus throwing him against the port side winch with the sheet wrapped around his throat and face.

At this point it was discovered he was not breathing. The other crew member yelled 'On Deck...On Deck...On Deck!'. It took several yells of 'On Deck' before the rest of the crew realized that an emergency was taking place. As soon as Rudy realized that Michael wasn't breathing and had bit off half of his tongue and the other crew member that knew CRP was trying to revive him was have difficulty, Rudy launched the Epirb and got on the HF radio to try and make contact with someone.

Rudy was able to make contact with someone in Florida. After a good 10 minutes of conversation and explaining who they were and what was happening, the HAM operator was able to make contact with the San Diego Coast Guard who then took things under control.

Over a period of a few minutes, they were able to revive Michael, however his tongue was hanging by small amounts of tissue and was bleeding profusely. They had to keep him on his side so that the fluids from his tongue didn't choke him. The Coast Guard dispatcher asked if they had anyone onboard that could sew his tongue back on. Each of the Wind Child crew looked at each other in bewilderment wondering if any one of them had on some strange occasion been privy to tongue sewing lessons during their CPR classes. Needless to say none of them had and therefore the tongue would remain dangling sideways from the edge Michaels mouth.

Approximately 10 hours later, a C130 was seen by the crew of Wind Child and hailed on channel 16. The C130 crew told them that they would be dropping some medical equipment and that they should make every effort to catch and acquire the bright yellow boxes before the pararescue team jumped and came onboard to help. The C130 made a long slow banking turn and returned in the direction of Wind Child. The wind was blowing approximately 25 knots at this time and when the medical boxes were dropped from the aircraft with parachutes, the parachutes carried the boxes a long way through the air and then continued to drag them along the surface of the ocean once they were in the water. The Beneteau could only motor 7 knots at full throttle and the medical supplies were being drug along at 10 - 15 knots. It didn't seem like they would ever catch-up to the supplies.

About an hour later the wind started to decrease and Wind Child caught up to one of the medical supply boxes. These boxes weighed several hundred pounds and were huge, about 3 feet wide by 4 feet long by 3 feet tall. There was no way that the 4 remaining crew members on Wind Child could hoist this box onto the boat. Even if they could, there wasn't any room to stow it.

A few minutes later, the C130 passed again releasing another large box-like figure and four men who had parachutes deployed. The sea conditions were getting pretty rough and the sun was setting. A very dark night lay ahead for everyone. Plus, it was starting to rain....Rudy hates rain.

The pararescue team inflated and rowed the rubber dinghy toward Wind Child. When they arrived on the small boat, they all introduced themselves and the last individual secured the inflatable to the stern of Wind Child. After few minutes aboard Wind Child in the heaving seas and wet conditions of the cockpit and while trying to get the medical supplies onboard, it became apparent that the pararescue team wasn't at all accustomed to rough seas. All four of the buff, highly athletic individuals were finding it difficult to keep the contents of their lunch down. Rudy said that all four of the men were puking one after the other for the entire 4 hours they were aboard.

Once they were able to get the medical kit onboard and spread out in the cockpit and begin stabilizing Michael, there wasn't any room for handling the sheets and lines needed to steer and control the vessel. The cockpit was stuffed with medical supplies and sick rescue workers. One of the rescuers asked Rudy if he could get the boat to sail smoother through the water. Rudy said he could, but would need some help with line on winches. One of the rescuers helped Rudy sheet in on the genoa, but in the process, the tail end of the genoa sheet went overboard without them knowing it. This would prove to be a problem. In addition, it was about this time that Rudy noticed that the rubber dinghy that the rescue crew arrived in was now gone. Whoever secured the raft, did not know how to tie a good bowline knot. The raft was lost and this would make the remainder of the rescue a real challenge since they had to transfer to a freighter ship that was in the area.

A large freighter ship named Cap Palmerston was requested by the Coast Guard to lend assistance in the rescue. Since the rubber dinghy was now missing, the rescue crew needed assistance from the freighter in the form of a life raft to be sent out to meet up with them. Under normal conditions and calm sea state, this would all be an easy routine undertaking, however the sea state was anything but calm, it was raining and the wind was getting stronger.

As the freighter pulled alongside Wind Child, it began to shadow the wind that the Rudy was using to keep the boat on a steady heading. In fact as the freighter pulled further ahead, the wind completely died and becalmed Wind Child. Rudy then started the engine to find that a genoa sheet line had wrapped in his prop and he didn't have any propulsion to prevent his boat from bouncing off the side of the big freighter.

Rudy was left no alternative but to gybe down and hope that he could miss the aft end of the Freighter and the props of the freighter. Just by luck he did, but it was far too close for comfort when he could see the massive propellers of the freighter turning in the water making Wind Child look like a toy boat in a bath tub.

Now on the opposite side of the freighter Rudy explained to the ship captain that he did not have propulsion other than wind and that something had fouled his prop. The freighter then dropped a life raft to meet with Wind Child and the transfer was completed. The seasick rescuers and Michael were now safe.

About 500 mile outside of San Diego, a helicopter intercepted the Cap Palmerston and took all the rescue crew and Michael to San Diego emergency. The rescue had been completed and Wind Child finished its sail to the Marquesas in just 21 days.








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The U.S. Coast Guard and California Air National Guard responded, sending four rescue workers via a C-130 'Hercules' aircraft to Kalahar, who was aboard the sailing vessel Wind Child.

Kalahar, 56, reportedly was injured when a gust hit and sent the sailboat’s boom across the boat. The heavily-loaded lines that trim the mainsail pinned him by the throat against the bulkhead and jammed the back of his head against a winch.


Kalahar was rescued about 1400 nm southwest of Mexico

According to Ken Newell, who interviewed the yachts' owner and reported on his Sailing Blog 'S/V Trim, 'Wind Child is a racing boat through and through. Not necessarily because of it's design, but because of it's skipper and crew. Owner Rudy Heessels is Dutch and therefore can't help himself from being a sailor and one that likes to race. Rudy is a fanatic. He owns and races his Beneteau 36S7. He sails when most people would simply start-up their iron genny and motor through the rough stuff. He take tremendous pride in sailing and sailing hard with a small boat. According to Rudy Heessels, the story goes something like this....

At about 5 AM Michael Kalahar and another crew member were on watch when a sudden swell twisted the vessel sideways back winding the main and causing the sail to travel hard to port. In doing so, the force of the reloaded sail shredded the preventer line allowing the main sail to travel at high speed across the cockpit and swing the mainsheet across the face of Michael Kalahar thus throwing him against the port side winch with the sheet wrapped around his throat and face.



At this point it was discovered he was not breathing. The other crew member yelled 'On Deck...On Deck...On Deck!'. It took several yells of 'On Deck' before the rest of the crew realized that an emergency was taking place. As soon as Rudy realized that Michael wasn't breathing and had bit off half of his tongue and the other crew member that knew CRP was trying to revive him was have difficulty, Rudy launched the EPIRB and got on the HF radio to try and make contact with someone. Read the rest of Ken's blog at: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/trim50/?xjMsgID=125408 .

As of early this week, Kalahar reportedly was recovering at a hospital in San Diego. From: sequimgazette.com.

Watch a video as the Pararescuemen from the 129th Rescue Wing California Air National Guard prepare to jump from the rear door of a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane approximately 1,400 miles southwest of San Diego April 1, 2010. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer third Class Henry G. Dunphy. Video by US Coast Guard: