From Yacht To Flotsam In Just Five Minutes

13th January 2013

#Sinking - How fast can a yacht sink? The video above shows just how swiftly one's dreams can disappear into the murky depths.

The clip, via Elaine Bunting's blog at Yachting World, captures the Sweden Yachts 45 Ciao in the waters north-east of the Cocos islands in the Indian Ocean last September as its rudder is damaged by impact with an object below the surface, quite possibly a whale.

Within the space of just five minutes, the fully functioning vessel is reduced to flotsam, its crew Srecko and Olga Pust escaped to their liferaft for rescue at the last possible moment despite their valiant efforts to save the yacht.

"The boat had been their home for several years while cruising, and they were to lose almost everything in the sinking," said Bunting.

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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