Two yachtsmen died at sea and multiple boats were left damaged as wild weather conditions hit in Australia’s annual Sydney to Hobart blue water classic race.
The Sydney-based Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), which runs the 79-year-old race, said that sailors on board Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline died in the early hours of Friday as heavy seas and howling northerly winds drove the yachts south down Australia’s east coast toward the finish line at Hobart on the island of Tasmania. The race is 628 nautical miles long.
Nick Smith, 65, an experienced ocean yachtsman, was operating the ropes which help allow the sail to change direction when he was hit by the main sheet, thrown across the boat and hit on the head