THANKS A YATCH!
Cruise ship saves stranded boater
A 73-year-old yachtsman who decided not to go down with his ship was rescued in the middle of the Atlantic by the Queen Mary 2 as it steamed back to Brooklyn.
Veteran sailor Mervyn Wheatley was plucked from the sea by the massive ocean liner on Saturday, but not before scuttling his own craft so it wouldn’t interfere with others on the same cross-Atlantic journey.
An unexpected hurricane — with 50-foot waves and 70-mph winds — did serious damage to Wheatley’s ship on Friday.
“It was a shambles,” Wheatley told the BBC. “There was food all over the place and water up to the floorboards.”
He spent three hours pumping water and came to the conclusion he wasn’t going to complete the Royal Western Yacht Club race from Plymouth in the United Kingdom to Newport, RI, with his yacht — called Tamarind.
“I realized that I could not make it the 1,500 miles back to the UK,” Wheatley said.
Canadian and UK rescuers went searching for Wheatley after his craft’s emergency beacon went off Friday. British, Canadian and Portuguese aircraft were all in the area to make sure Wheatley was pulled to safety.
The QM2 eventually reached Wheatley in the North Atlantic and plucked him to safety Saturday — after he took steps to sink his own boat.
The race director at the Royal Western Yacht Club, John Lewis, called Wheatley’s decision “traumatic” because “a boat to a skipper is a friend and a support.” Wheatley’s wife, Penny, concurred.
“He has never lost another boat,” she said. “The last 36 hours have been a nightmare, because she could have gone down with him on board . . . There’s no way he would have survived on a life raft in those conditions.”
The QM2 was the closest craft to Wheatley when his location was found. The famed cruise liner had shoved off from Southampton on Wednesday and is due to arrive at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook this upcoming Thursday.
QM2 Captain Chris Wells said it was no sweat picking up an unexpected passenger.
“It is standard seafaring practice to go to the aid of a vessel in distress,” he said. “We were pleased to be able to help and delighted that the yachtsman is safe and well.”