Ocean record bid that almost ended in death
ASAILOR has told of his high seas adventure where a world record attempt ended with one of his team nearly dying from a jellyfish sting.
Russell Sandbach, 55, of Cheadle Heath, was part of the support crew as pal Ben Hooper tried to become the first person to swim the Atlantic Ocean.
He was first mate on the 50ft catamaran but the attempt was aborted when Ben was stung by a Portuguese Man of War and was minutes from death.
The boat continued its journey from Senegal, in Africa, to Natal, in Brazil, without the swimming but only after storms left Russell needing to make midocean repairs.
And once they landed in South America three of the six-strong team needed hospital treatment.
Russell said: “Ben was close to death, the closest I’ve seen anyone. We got him out of the water for treatment in two and a half minutes, any longer and he would be dead.
“He was incoherent, lost consciousness and had muscle spasms. We knew instantly he was in trouble, I even got a secondary sting from him.
“He tried to continue a few days later but he wasn’t quite the same. Then there was storms that damaged the boat and part of the mast broke.
“I had to do all sorts of creative repairs. I took one part of the boat off to mend another, it was falling apart.”
The drama meant that the wind and currents rather than against them for a shorter distance back to Africa.
Before arriving in Brazil, another of the team broke ribs in a fall in choppy waters. Another lost two fingers when she trapped them as the boat docked.
Then Ben damaged ligaments in another fall.
But none of this has put Russell off life on the ocean. The team will try again and he will quit his job as a charity chief executive to deliver boats by sailing them.
He said: “Pushing a pen in the office or life on the ocean, it’s a no-brainer. We saw turtles, a giant stingray and a pod of whales.
“The wildlife was beautiful and it was a real adventure.”