Dramatic South Atlantic rescue of GGR sailor

ABOVE LEFT: Ian Herbert Jones shortly before being rescued from his yacht, Puffin (right)

One of those who didn’t make it to the finish of the Golden Globe Race under sail was skipper Ian Herbert Jones from Shropshire, England. Herbert Jones was evacuated from his yacht in the south Atlantic after he suffered a back injury and gashed his head when he was rolled in seven metre seas, losing the rig.

A dramatic 24 hours began when the 52-year-old former British Army engineer contacted the race office on day 218 of his circumnavigation, 10 April 2023, to say he was in extreme weather and confused seas with 50 knots of wind, gusting over 70 knots. The married father-of-three was running under bare poles and trying to hand steer downwind in his Tradewind 35, Puffin, several hundred miles west of southern Patagonia.

Herbert Jones was on a call with race HQ, reporting that his yacht was being laid over by wind and waves and there was water down below, when the line went dead and contact was lost. He called again 10 minutes later to say he could not launch his drogue to keep Puffin stern to the waves. Conditions were extreme, he had been washed out of the cockpit twice and he had activated his EPIRB so that Search And Rescue in Argentina would be aware of his position.

Two hours later Ian sent a message via his Yellow-Brick YB3 satellite tracking and texting unit – he had pressed the distress alert button, suggesting he was in trouble and could not text or use the sat phone.

Search and Rescue Puerto Belgrano began coordinating a rescue with commercial ships in Ian’s vicinity, then just over an hour later, at 1840, Puffin sent the message: “Rolled dismasted, injured back, hard to move, 2ft water in boat.”

Then at 1844, a second message read: “Situation getting worse...need weather break to cut rig from Puffin.”

The 7.7m south west sea also had a forecast 1.8m north east secondary swell at nine second intervals – two opposing seas sure to cause highly confused conditions.

At 2015 a further message was received, saying he had gashed his head while trying to cut away the rig. His back was painful and stiff, with movement difficult.

Three Taiwanese fishing boats headed towards him, the first to arrive being the Zi Da Wang, poisitioning herself to windward of Ian while discussing how he could be transferred via VHF.

At 1930, around 26 hours after Ian’s first distress message, the race office was told that Ian was safely aboard the Zi Da Wang “bruised, cut, scraped, still with a back injury, but safe”.

The Tradewind 35 was then scuttled so she would not remain a potential hazard to navigation and the Zi Da Wang headed for Cape Town.