Dec. 26 (UPI) — Two crew members participating in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Australia are dead after separate accidents at sea, police announced late Thursday.
Officials said the crew members were knocked into the Tasman Sea by the swinging boom on their boats, the vertical pole that attaches to the bottom of the sail.
The 630 nautical mile long race starts in Sydney, New South Wales on the day after Christmas, and finishes in Hobart, Tasmania. The race, run by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, is largely considered to be among the most difficult of its kind in the world.
The event’s organizers, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, said the incidents happened on the Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline.
“Flying Fish Arctos was sailing approximately 30 nautical miles east/south-east of Ulladulla when the incident occurred. Fellow crew members performed CPR, but they could not revive their fellow crew,” a statement from the CYCA said. “Bowline was approximately 30nm east/north-east of Batemans Bay and crew members administered CPR. A short time later officers from the Marine Area Command were informed that CPR had been unsuccessful.”
Strong winds and inhospitable conditions forced at least a dozen boats to retire from the race, but David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the CYCA, said in a statement that the race would “absolutely” continue.
“The conditions are challenging, but they’re not excessive,” he said. “So we’ve got sort of winds at about 25 knots coming from the north seas around about two meters or thereabouts, so the conditions that most of the sailors would normally easily handle.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the accident in a statement and paid tribute to the sailors who died.
“We have sadly awoken to tragedy in the Sydney to Hobart with the awful news two sailors have lost their lives,” he said. “Our thoughts are with the crews, their families and loved ones at this deeply sad time.”
In a separate incident, a crew member from Hobart yacht Porco Rosso was washed overboard by the hostile weather and was pulled more than a kilometer away by the sea before being rescued when crews tracked his emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, an electronic safety device that all sailors in the race are required to wear.
“That is one of the most terrifying experiences that you can have,” Jacobs said. “(And) it was at night, which makes it tenfold more scary.”
The first boats to finish the race are expected to begin arriving in Hobart late Friday or early Saturday.