Two dead after yacht race accidents in Australia Two dead after yacht race accidents in sailing community is a very close community, and there’s about a thousand sailors on the water in this race and to lose two in this fashion is just devastating. As I’m sure you all know, there are two separate boats and in both cases we believe that the member of crew was hit by a boom. I have no other information as to how that came about and what the circumstances were, so I’m afraid I can’t elaborate on that today.”
“The forecast was with strong winds to gale-force winds. These fleets can handle those winds easily. They’re ocean racers, they’re used to those winds, it was not extreme conditions.
Race organizers said in a statement on their website that both crew members died after they were hit by the sail boom, a horizontal pole which holds down the sails and swings depending on the direction of the wind.
New South Wales police said they were informed just before midnight that a crew member of one Sydney to Hobart entry was struck by a sail boom. Fellow crew members performed CPR but the sailor could not be revived.
A couple of hours later a crew member on another vessel was reported to have also been struck by a sail boom and died.
Race organizers identified Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline as the boats where the incidents occurred.
“The sailing community is a very close community, and there’s about a thousand sailors on the water in this race and to lose two in this fashion is just devastating,” said David Jacobs, vice commodore at Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
“We always want to improve safety wherever we can. So we will do an investigation and if there’s something that boats can do to try and prevent this happening, we will implement it.”
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