Ian Herbert Jones of Great Britain, competing in the 2022-23 Golden Globe Race, was successfully rescued after his Tradewind 35 Puffin had rolled over and dismasted, with the skipper injuring his back and incurring a gash to his head. Jones was northeast of Cape Horn when he became overwhelmed in winds gusting over 90 knots and a confused sea.
Scuttlebutt Sailing News reports that it was 1740 UTC when Jones first saw the Taiwanese Fishing Vessel ZI DA WANG arriving from the North. Twenty-six hours earlier, he was unable to make contact by sat phone and set off his EPIRB to make sure the Search and Rescue chain of his zone – NAVAREA 6 – knew where he was, and that he was facing a bad situation.
He had been in heavy weather for a full day already but was unable to deploy his drogue as the wind intensified. Not trailing a drogue or warps made it difficult to keep Puffins stern into the waves and avoid being rolled by the building sea.
The condition soon became overwhelming as the boat could not be held direct downwind. Two hours later, in a SW wind of 55 knots, gusting 75 knots and 8-metre sea, Jones manually lifted the safety cover of his YB3 Satellite tracking and texting device and pressed the distress alert button. This is recognized GGR distress protocol for all entrants, suggesting something more serious had happened.
At 1815 UTC, the ZI DA WANG arrived first on the rescue site and positioned herself to the west of Puffin to windward, in order to cut the wind and flatten the sea for Jones, enabling him to maneuver at close quarters, while discussing on the VHF the best way to transfer from the injured Puffin to the rescue vessel.
At 19:30, the GGR were informed by the SAR Puerto Belgrano that Jones was on the ZI DA WANG, bruised, cut, scraped, still suffering from his back injury, but safe. They are believed to be bound for Cape Town, South Africa where he will be put ashore.
Puffin, completed a first circumnavigation with Istvan Köpar in the GGR 2018, and nearly completed a second one with Jones after covering 79.4% of the round-the-world course with one stop in Tierra del Fuego to repair the Hydrovane. Alas, the brave Tradewind 35 was a hazard to safety and had to be scuttled before he left his home for the last seven months to board the ZI DA WANG.
The 2022 Golden Globe Race is the third edition of the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. The solo race around the world started on 4 September 2022 from Les Sables-d’Olonne in France. Of the 16 starting competitors, 11, so far, have retired from the race.
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