Kiwi yacht mayday off Fiji

[centaur114]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/ne...HKSFO4IW7GMEU/

[fxykty]

Bummer for all the cruise guests. Will be interesting to find out whether it was just a crew medical emergency, or some issue with the boat. It sounds like the skipper is still sailing the boat and there isn’t another rescue planned.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Bummer for all the cruise guests. Will be interesting to find out whether it was just a crew medical emergency, or some issue with the boat. It sounds like the skipper is still sailing the boat and there isn’t another rescue planned.

video shows top half of the mast broken and failing around. sounds like the yacht is now abandoned

sympathy to all concerned

cheers,

[wholybee]

A previous story shows the yacht with the mast intact and looking ok (with sails down), followed by a video of the yacht alongside the cruise ship, with a then broken mast smashing against the side of the cruise ship. I wonder if the mast was damaged during the rescue.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/fi...PZJOKEUCO6L6M/

Interestingly, the photo of the yacht with the mast intact has been replaced by another more exciting video. But it was the yacht at night, with the spreader lights on, and the tricolor on the top of the mast on. You could clearly make out the furled jib, and the intact boom.

[Jim Cate]

Lots of missing info: in what way was the yacht disabled? Was the crew member sick or injured in some way? What wx conditions existed at the time they issued the may day?

Sad story all around in any case.

Jim

[Karanga]

From what I can gather, it was a monohull (Silent? ) on way back to NZ. Called Second Life.
3 POB. Early info suggests mainsheet on a crash gybe injured or killed the owner.
Called mayday. Cruise ship responded and transferred 1 person, but conditions too poor to launch their tender. While alongside, mast broke and maybe injured another crew. The Beast (privately owned extra big stink boat also en route to NZ) arrived and took off all people and turned back to Fiji.
Yacht maybe has been scuttled

[clownfishsydney]

Not sure if I am watching the same video as others, but it is clear that the top of the mast has broken off and is hanging by the rigging. Same video in both links. Presumably the mast has hit one of the crew members and killed them.

[fxykty]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/strick...-husband-home/

According to this story the owner and a crew member were hit by the boom. The owner was knocked unconscious and died after about 24 hours, before any help arrived. The injured crew member was transferred to the cruise ship and it appears that the mast was broken during that transfer. The remaining person and the body of the owner were transferred to a Fijian navy vessel, and the yacht was scuttled by the navy. Very sad.