Round-the-world sailor rescued after storm damages her ship
A BRITISH woman sailing solo in a round-the-world race was rescued after a storm in the Southern Ocean destroyed her mast and knocked her unconscious.
Susie Goodall tweeted to say she was “on the ship” yesterday afternoon after Chilean authorities directed Hong Kong-registered cargo ship MV Tian Fu to help the stricken sailor.
The 29-year-old had been competing in the Golden Globe Race – a 30,000 nautical mile solo and non-stop circumnavigation.
The Golden Globe Race website said officials had been in regular radio contact with her since she regained consciousness.
Goodall lost her mast around 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn near the southern tip of South America on Wednesday.
She was the youngest entrant and the sole female in the demanding race, and had spent more than five months at sea.
Her entry on the race website says she started sailing at the age of three and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean while sailing alone.
Goodall’s messages to race officials chronicled the disaster that disabled her boat and saw her competition brought to an end.
On Wednesday at around 8.30am, she tweeted: “Taking a hammering! Wondering what on earth I’m doing out here” and sent her position. Four hours later, she updated her position and said: “Dismasted. Hull OK. No form of jury rig. Total loss.”
Next she said the interior was a total wreck but the lifeboat was OK, before saying: “Nasty head bang as boat pitchpoled. Unbelievably roly now.”
A minute later, she said: “Totally & utterly gutted!”
The competition began on July 1 in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, with 18 skippers planning to sail non-stop and without outside help before returning to the port.
They must navigate with a sextant on paper charts, and without electronic instruments or autopilots – with sporadic contact with families as their radios allow. This move was to recreate the conditions of the first Golden Globe Race in 1968, won by Britain’s Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.