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Golden Globe Race: Susie Goodall Rescue

6th December 2018
Susie Goodall -dismasted in the Golden Globe Race Susie Goodall -dismasted in the Golden Globe Race

British yachtswoman Susie Goodall remains safe and secure aboard her yacht DHL Starlight after being pitchpoled and dismasted in the Southern Ocean some 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn yesterday.

Overnight, Chilean rescue authorities have tasked another ship, the 38,000 ton Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier MV Tian Fu bound from China to Modran, Argentina, to go to her aid and it is due to reach her position at 05:00 UTC Friday.

Conditions have moderated overnight but seas remain challenging, making life onboard very uncomfortable.

Susie remains in regular contact with Race HQ and will spend today preparing for evacuation tomorrow. The flooding is now under control, and today she will endeavour to coax DHL Starlight's engine to run again in case she is required to manoeuvre her yacht alongside the ship. She will also ensure that the yacht's liferaft is ready to deploy.

It will still be dark when the MV Tian Fu reaches the scene and the rescue operation is unlikely to commence before daylight. It will be for her Captain to decide the best method to transfer Goodall from yacht to ship. This could entail launching the ship's own man-overboard vessel, or lowering a cargo net or ladder over the side for her to climb up from the yacht or her liferaft.

Timeline of text messages received from Susie Goodall before and after being dismasted:

05 Dec 08:29 UTC: TAKING A HAMMERING! WONDERING WHAT ON EARTH I'M DOING OUT HERE Position: 45' 33.054 S 122' 37.061 W

05 Dec 12:33 UTC; DISMASTED.HULL OK. NO FORM OF JURY RIG, TOTAL LOSS Position: 45' 27.787 S 122' 23.537 W

05 Dec 12:57 UTC: INTERIOR TOTAL WRECK, LIFERAFT OK, Position: 45' 27.284 S 122' 22.985

05 Dec 13:23 UTC: NASTY HEAD BANG AS BOAT PITCHPOLED. UNBELIEVABLY ROLY NOW Position: 45' 26.735 S 122' 22.490 W

05 Dec 13:24 UTC: TOTALLY & UTTERLY GUTTED! Position: 45' 26.702 S 122' 22.460 W

05 Dec 23:04 UTC: THIS MOTION IS JUST HORRIBLE! CLINGING ON IN MY BUNK. Position: 45' 25.629 S 122' 13.763 W

06 Dec 02:51 UTC: IN NEED OF A GOOD CUPPA TEA! BUT SADLY NO COOKER Position: 45' 24.506 S 122' 05.482 W

Published in Golden Globe Race

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