Bulker Rescues Ocean Racer After Yacht Pitchpoles
On Friday, the Hong Kong-flagged bulker Tian Fu rescued distressed yachtswoman Susie Goodall at a position about 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn in the Southern Ocean. During the Tasmania-to-Chile leg of the Golden Globe ocean race, Goodall's yacht DHL Starlight pitchpoled in heavy weather and was dismasted.
On the night of December 4, Goodall was trailing a drogue anchor and waiting out heavy weather, with high waves and winds of 60 knots. She had taken down her mainsail and was below deck. The 36-foot yacht was "taking a hammering" from the storm, she told the race's coordination center in a text at 0830 hours UTC. At 1030 hours, the UK Coastguard recieved a distress signal from Goodall's EPIRB at its rescue coordination center in Fareham, England (Goodall is a UK national). At 1223 hours, Goodall informed race coordinators via satphone that her yacht had pitchpoled. The Starlight was dismasted and effectively immobilized, with no form of jury rig possible.
Goodall reported that she was knocked briefly unconscious in the rollover. While the vessel took on some water when it pitchpoled, there were no signs of hull or deck damage, and Goodall was able to secure all hatches and portholes after she came around.
At the time of the casualty, the 38,000 dwt geared bulker Tian Fu was about 480 miles to the southwest, under way from China to Argentina. She was the closest vessel in the area, and Chilean rescue authorities requested her master to divert to the scene.
The Tian Fu arrived early Friday, and her crew made preparations to hoist Goodall directly from her yacht onto the deck using one of the ship's cranes. At 1235 hours local time, they successfully completed the evolution and transferrred her aboard. Goodall is reportedly in good condition.
The Golden Globe Race is a 30,000-mile, solo round-the-world competition, with no scheduled port calls. Its start/finish line is in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, and is the same used in the Vendee Globe, a solo race for experienced professional sailors with the latest racing-yacht technology. However, GGR participants are restricted to using small, heavily-built cruising yachts and 1960s technology: sextants, paper charts and trailing speed logs are allowed, but not computerized weather routing, GPS, chart plotters or other modern-day equipment.
At age 29, Goodall is the youngest participant in the Golden Globe Race. She was in fourth place at the time of the casualty.
Goodall aboard the DHL Starlight (Golden Globe Race / Twitter)