Canadian team rescues yacht racer
British sailor in distress plucked from boat in Atlantic 500 km southeast of Halifax
Canadian search teams in the North Atlantic have rescued an ailing British sailor.
Chris Drummond, 62, from High Wycombe, U.K., was complaining of severe chest pains during one of the final legs of this year’s Clipper Round the World Race when the decision was made to evacuate.
The daring rescue took place Friday aboard the ocean racing yacht IchorCoal, which was roughly 270 nautical miles (about 500 kilometres) southeast of Halifax when the distress call was made. The 70-foot boat is one of 12 identical Tony Castro-designed Clipper 70 yachts competing.
In an after-action report uploaded online, IchorCoal skipper Rich Gould called the challenging helicopter rescue “very impressive stuff.”
Gould described the noise as “unfathomable” when the chopper appeared overhead. “I could actually feel the throbbing of the rotor blades run straight through my chest.”
A Defence Department spokesperson confirmed the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax deployed two aircraft — a CC-130 Hercules airplane and CH-149 Cormo- rant helicopter — from Greenwood, N.S.-based 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron to perform the rescue.
When weather conditions forced them to ditch their initial approach, two search-and-rescue technicians boarded the vessel and used a rescue basket to successfully hoist Drummond into the helicopter above. According to Gould, it took 14 minutes for the technicians to board, collect Drummond and extract themselves.
“We commend the efforts made by the 413 rescue squadron for their professionalism and expertise to ensure that this individual received the care they required,” said Sub-Lt. Jamie Tobin.
According to race organizers, Drummond was transferred to Halifax’s Queen Elizabeth II hospital. A hospital spokesperson confirmed Friday evening that Drummond was still in hospital.
The race’s founder, Sir Robin KnoxJohnston, said the crew “was in good hands” thanks to the joint efforts of the Canadian Coast Guard and De- partment of National Defence. This year marks the 10th edition of the worldwide competition that invites “anyone” to sail across the globe’s most challenging oceans, regardless of their experience.
Knox-Johnston, the winner of the first solo race around the world in 1968, explained “sailing across the ocean is never 100-per-cent safe. It can’t be.
“There is always a risk of being thrown around the boat, cracked ribs, broken bones,” he told the Star in a telephone interview from Britain on Friday. “But if it was easy, who would want to do it?”
A Halifax company that provides remote medical advice also played a role in the successful medevac. Praxes medical director and practicing emergency medicine physician Dr. John Ross said a doctor on call responded to a satellite phone call made from onboard the IchorCoal.
“A skipper will tell us what they are seeing and we talk the patient through a range of questions,” he said.
In assessing Drummond’s condition, “his answers were making it all the more suspicious that this could be heart-related chest pain.”
The emergency calls Praxes doctors receive, Ross explained, “are rarely boring” and range from back pain, rashes to more critical issues such as broken bones.