1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race film part 2

one of the most tragic stories came from the crew of the 56 year old cutter Winston Churchill the oldest boat in the fleet of the nine crew who started the race only six would survive this particular scene came out of nowhere and Richard observed to try to get the bow up and over the top of it but the wave actually broke as he was as he was trying to maneuver the boat over the top of the Seaway and the boat was just lifted lifted up throwing sideways at a 45-degree angle into the trough in front and that was the that's where all the damage happened in that one hit so if that was the case to get the life rafts out and put them up on deck and just get ready to look like wait up we're going to have to bail out there's about staking water all the time the Winston Churchill sank just five minutes after the May Day in treacherous seas on Sunday night the nine on board scrambled into two life rafts they were tired together but later torn apart the enormous way Paul got into one raft and five got into another art we did have a line tied between him but that didn't last very long at all so that broke which was a blessing in disguise because it possibly would have pulled each other apart if if they had a stayed tied together and then we took off and that was about I believe pub around about half past four in the afternoon or closer to five probably so we had still had sunlight and and where we just then at the mercy of of the wave and winds that it was a pretty interesting experience for sure for the crew of Winston Churchill it was to be the beginning of a twenty eight hour nightmare we've just got um quite bad news down below is that John Gibson who is our crewman down there in the red cap his father and crewmates bond bought a boat called the Winston Churchill which went down and they evacuated the boat into a life raft they're still not found yet so that may bear some gravity to the conditions we're experiencing one of the oldest and strongest boats in the fleet with one of the most experienced crew and they're still not found so we're hoping at the height of the storm 16 yachts were sending our distress signals and 150 lives were at risk meanwhile other tragedies were starting to unfold the killer storm was about to claim its first victim English Olympic yachtsman Glyn Charles swept overboard from sort of Orion now we were making our way through the Seas the boat was probably doing six to seven knots nursing our way across them down the Seas occasionally you'd drop off a sea and maybe for 10 or 15 feet you get this almighty shudder of course you get to the top of a really big one and the wind would be its full force at the top of the sea and then as you made your way down to the bottom you know the wind strength might be 2/3 of that so at the bottom of the sea it might be 45 to 50 knots at the top of the sea it might be 65 to 70 knots two o'clock in the afternoon seventy miles into end of a straight 85 miles back to Eden or 130 miles to Eddie stone which is the other side of a straight we knew that low-pressure system was still to the south of us we assumed from that of the sea ways and the weather conditions would only deteriorate further I know that might sound hard but from 80 knots the deteriorate further is a bit unthinkable but certainly we didn't expect them to abate for at least 24 hours the wise and safe decision was to retire I had a couple of words with Glen when he came on deck and yeah like myself and everybody else on the boat clearly he was concerned scared a little bit frightened about the conditions and circumstances when I stuck my head back up the hatch half an hour later and said we're retiring that's job the boat and head back to Eden you know he was as happy about this about that decision as everybody else on the vocals the irony was that they were heading back to shore when they were hit by an 80-foot rogue wave as the boat made its way to the top the wave broke capsized the yacht the ah'd fell down the face of the sea as the wave broke and roll the boats the boat did a complete 360 it rolled very quickly from the time the boat rolled over on its side and completed the 360 and came back up would have been no more than four or five seconds as the boat fell down the sea the boom was on the lured side of the boat the Maine still wrapped around the Boone and we had fastened the boom with two pieces of webbing onto the staunch uns on the lured side to hold it on the Lord's side of the boat the force in which the boat fell down the sea it broke the webbing and the boom rolled across the boat like a steam train rapidly over the top of the wheel it pushed the wheel starving all down through the cockpit floor but it drove over the top of the wheel collected Glenn and threw him overboard and broke his tether I found I found where he had been attached to the staunch in' and the meter and a half of line and with the end of the line it was just like it had been ripped and from what I understand talking with Darin he was thrown overboard before the boat even capsized so then the boat capsized and got dragged by the way by the time the boat had come upright the boat was already 30 metres away from him the crew was helpless to save their mate and that was the last time they'd ever see little chance we spent the next 20 minutes trying to retrieve Glenn but he was moving quickly away from the boat and we had no power the boat was about somewhere between your knee and your waist deep in water inside the boat that's how much water the boat had taken in the capsized the motor was under water the batteries were under water the boat was incapable of we're incapable start in the modal doing anything to get back I guess we could have been hit by that wave at any anywhere or indeed at any time you know when we were hit it was he was Glen's turn to be helming without and it's tough and but that's what it was some names just like that Electro's helping our viewers my early evening the storm had forced over half the fleet to withdraw from the race mly there's a play ago very early hours of this morning probably midnight one o'clock the truth took a 360-degree roll which took the mast out of the boat and cause some injuries to some people on board what's going through your mind at this time it's time to activate the ePub at all in a bit of help which we did and these guys are fantastic I can only can't speak too highly their professionalism and we we've got the first guy off the boat the we suffered another 360 degree rollover which put a lot of water in the boat and yeah we're pleased Amelia the tranquillity of Eden was a long way from the terror of the storm through the late afternoon and night battered yachts and sailors struggled into the harbor many survivors needing ambulance treatment happy behind that no and got on the boat finish you're right one by one they pulled out of the race their dreams shattered all thankful to escape with their lives at ports along the New South Wales and Victorian coastline the scene was repeated as rescuers ferried survivors to towns and hospitals I'm glad to be alive matter though meanwhile the crew from Winston Churchill still in two small lifeboats were in a life-and-death struggle as they prepare for a long night a night that would claim another three lives the next real big wave was the one that flipped us upside down which I'm not sure what time but it was probably around nine or ten o'clock at night and it was it was howling it was flowing a girl and howling and writing upside down that was a real problem but we felt that we're actually travelling better upside down and what we were right-side up so it was a case of what do we do here because it's only a matter of time before we run out of oxygen and Jimmy Lawler who was next to the sort of doorway said that if to go outside he would rather take his like this stuff which was going to be dangerous and so we talked about it and we decided that was too dangerous to do and he could parties he get one up to it people outside and you could another way we could eat you and you could lose those two so that's when we came up with the option of cutting a hole in the bottom of the life raft which we did with it with a knife and kind of forward about a four-inch slit and that was enough to let us get the oxygen and the way that hit us every now and again but you'd lift lift the roof up which was the floor and she had the water off and we were actually quite comfortable upside down it would prove to be a fateful decision an era so later we we got hit with a with another big wave and that put us right side up again and with the body weight and inside the raft over a period of time the floor split right across so then we've got the roofers virtually gone and the floor is split and then we're just hanging on to the inside of a ring the water would break and and you you could you knew that you're in for a big wave so you would clinch clean shine and you'd really hang on this went on for a long time but we were giving each other a lot of support helping each other and I suspect that the one that really the bad wave that got us where we parted company was over it was I think was around three o'clock in the morning I believe about that time and there was no no warning of that way whatsoever and we just sort of went up the face of this wave and I believe it what happened was it like the wave broke when we were at the top of it and we I was hanging on John Gibson was the one who had a life vest and he actually had the license life vests clipped to the roof frame so he was he was pulled through the water and I was fortunate enough to be able to still hang on to the under the roof frame and this went for probably 300 yards or so and then I was on the inside of the of the raft but then when it stopped and I came up to get bread I was on the outside of the raft so are y'all that is everybody here and I only got one reply which was John Gibson and I look back it was white water for about 300 yards and I could see two people back behind me and I I just dived underneath back up inside this ring that we were hanging onto and said to John that we're really by ourselves now and that we can't do anything to help the other boys the wind and the waters going to blast too fast and that was the that was the problem there after a 12-hour struggle to stay together the crew of five were now down to just two it was hard to hard to take it but at the time to lose three friends just like that in one way was that you just had to really just fought the elements so that stage and just go for broke you know trying to save yourself it was to be a long battle the latest casualty of the Sydney to Hobart American sailor John candle knocked unconscious and swept overboard from Qingdao we just got hit with a monstrous wave hellmen I think saw it it last minute didn't have time to really react and issued you know real warning you know watch out and next thing you know the boat was upside down it completely rolled us 180 degrees and in the process I was washed off the boat you know I was completely limp my arms in over my head and I just slipped right out of my jacket my jacket turned inside out and that's when I slipped out of the harness and Peter was just grabbing me by the hand trying to keep me from being washed away and I just slipped back in the water and was lost at that point my first memory was a coming to what appeared like I was waking up from horrible dream and I literally had a debate with myself about whether this was reality or just what exactly was going on I was completely disoriented I had no idea how I got there I remember seeing the boat and it was getting farther and farther away and I was it was starting to become clear to me that my chances of getting back on the boat were diminishing and I was too far for them to be able to see me it was about that time that I saw a flare the guys on board the boat lit a safety flare emergency flare and I didn't I couldn't understand what why they had done that but moments later I saw a helicopter screaming over my head and heading towards the boat John Kendall now considers himself the luckiest man forty minutes in the ocean he was spotted by a passing helicopter and pulled to safety hard to describe just how lucky I am I mean in those conditions I think when most sailors go to sea and a race like that the general understanding is that if you go overboard even in the best circumstances it's not likely that you'll survive and so to be rescued in the worst circumstances is just incredible luck by first light on day three English yachtsman Glyn Charles was still missing and there was no sign of the life rafts from Winston Churchill day three of Hobart race for us and we're sort of limping the boat back into Eden and we basically had to UM pull the pin up a few sixty to seventy knot gusts came in the seas start to break heavily on the side of the boat breaking the window breaking the Dodger had a bit of damage in sort of 15 minutes time over the radio were coming several Mayday calls from other vessels bit further ahead of us and we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and we would pull out the race was starting to take on tragic proportions two people had just been confirmed dead on the Tasmanian yacht business post Nyad after it had been rolled several times in huge scenes my very sad duty to confirm that there are two deceased on business post nayad skipper 51 year old Bruce guy died after suffering a heart attack his neighbor Phil Skaggs was drowned after becoming tangled in his safety harness the rest of the crew had to be rescued as the yacht floundered in heavy seas cold and wet they were taken to hospital their faces testimony to the terror of the night and the heartache of losing their friends by this stage the maxi yachts were on their final run to Hobart they'd escape the worst of the conditions but had taken a battering all the same for the crew of Nokia the first sight of land was welcome relief after they'd be blown off course well to see the crews are remarkably well given that that really sticks the bow together Oh way down here we've got lots of broken stanchions many many broken sales the sales is what really led us down we're in solid third position and got a broken head ball which mean we had to go the tries to land over there forty two group of course and one way out to sea we're now alongside the coast which is a very welcome site that yeah the sails have let us down but the guys have been great they've kept putting in by late afternoon on day three there was still no sign of the crew from Winston Churchill seventeen aircraft and the Navy frigate were now scouring Bass Strait fears for the crews safety were escalating an air force' Ryan joining the already crowded skies of search planes and then a breakthrough attached to music I agree a life raft with four crewmen on board was sighted the other raft was still missing but rescuers were now confident it was only a matter of time before it was found it wasn't until it was dark and they actually on their way back after rescuing Richard that we had a strobe light John John had a strobe light and I had a mag light and that we had days on at the time and they actually spotted those two lights so then they circled around us for about 10 times until a helicopter arrived and I think that was around about 9:00 on 10:30 John Stanley says he always knew help would arrive one chef came down on the wire and jumped into the life raft we got John up there but they didn't want to send the guy back down at all to rescue me so way to get myself out with when the war managed to put it on and but I did get another line part part of the life raft around my shoulder and they when they lifted me they lifted the life raft as well I didn't didn't realize until I was about 20 foot so I decide it was too dangerous so I just bailed out of the ring and went back into the ocean on the second attempt John was dragged safely from the water and the ordeal was over so here we are pulling into Warren dong Harbor we've had good news in that ki Bo's father John Gibson is alive and well two of them along with our friend John Stanley were plucked out of a life raft late last night unfortunately three other friends have been washed out presumed dead at this stage so there's elation and also a fair bit of sadness on board but they took us back and came back out but there was it was it was too dark and a whit they wouldn't they came at next morning but by that time it was was Timmy as it passed so that was it was a sad part of the whole trip losing three inmates one of Australia's largest maritime rescue operations involving 38 aircraft dozens of boats a Navy frigate and hundreds of rescue personnel has been suspended four men have died and two are still missing presumed drowned you us Maxie sayonara was the first to reach Hobart the calm water and soft breeze a stark contrast to the fury of best straight the finish the race was in over zone with a little bit anti-climatic given the fact that they'd been some devastation the race we were aware of that but we weren't aware of how much and we just had to basically plot up the finishing it it's very nice to sail up your own water to the finish for sure and to be winning the race that's something that everyone would certainly dream to do pretty tough to be happy all I knew is that I had two brothers out there and six people we lost and I hadn't had no clue where they were it's not like you can stand there and cheer and rave and drink beer and pop champagne because the rest of the fleet's absolutely decimated he's not gonna celebrate really the maxi had missed the race record by some five hours but arriving safely was a victory in itself Australian maxi Brenda Bella was next to cross the line with ragamuffin in third place a few mates mine actually from of the Winston Churchill the boat sir they all mean a laugh like the life rafts and a couple of boys went missing through them they haven't found him from general experience that I think they will now they've been in the water for about 40 hours so that that's a bit of a shame that uh you know those things happen when you go yacht racing only 43 yachts would make it to Tasmania the killer storm had pledged six lives five books have sunk and 67 yachts had been forced to withdraw seventeen hobart race has not done like seven fast net races in england as well and raced in a lot of ocean races everywhere in the world I mean I've never seen conditions like that you know there were conditions that were out of our control by the end of the race I was physically and emotionally exhausted it was honestly the hardest ocean race I can possibly imagine it was time to reflect on what went wrong so out of out of a disaster hopefully we'll we'll get some improvements in various areas the Bureau of Meteorology defended its role in the tragedy saying it had issued adequate storm warnings the host club defended its performance saying it set world trusts safety standards despite the controversy it was agreed that any decision to continue racing ultimately rested with the skipper every time I do a senior over I say I recommend a bit of last but it's strange it's a strange sort of addiction that seems to happen you can never be too well prepared and I guess from my personal point of view I'm not sure that I'll even consider doing another Hobart race I just don't think it's worth it

Channel: CYCATV

Views: 217,381

Rating: 4.7357798 out of 5

Keywords: 1998, Sydney, Hobart, Yacht, Race, film, part, 2

Id: Z5554FxUXwg

Length: 26min 36sec (1596 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 03 2012