Close Call in Whitbread as Man Goes Overboard

Norway’s Innovation Kvaerner, overall leader of the Whitbread Round The World Race, rescued a crew member who fell overboard around midnight Saturday, while at about the same time a member of EF Education’s all-woman crew was swinging wildly around the mast “like a human pendulum.”

Both were reported safe as the race continued its third leg across the southern coast of Australia from Fremantle to Sydney. Swedish Match held a six-mile lead on Sweden’s EF Language in the tightly bunched nine-boat fleet.

Kvaerner skipper Knut Frostad reported that bowman Alby Pratt of Australia was washed overboard during a midnight sail change in 24 knots of wind. Pratt’s emergency personal strobe light made it easy to spot him in the water, and he was retrieved in about seven minutes.

“We used the engine to get close to him after the sails were taken down,” Frostad said. “The rescue took seven minutes and Pratt has since recovered from his ordeal.”

Aboard EF Education, Leah Newbold of New Zealand had been hauled aloft to reattach rigging supporting the mast and was 75 feet above the deck when she lost her grip on the mast as the boat hit a rough set of waves.

Skipper Christine Guillou reported, “[She] swung wildly into the sails and back into the rig a couple of times, hanging completely upside down in her harness at one stage. When there was no response to our repeated shouts of, ‘Leah, are you OK?’ we had great cause for alarm. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, she replied, ‘Just let me down, please.’ ”

Guillou said Newbold was “badly shaken and a bit bruised.” Bridget Suckling, also of New Zealand, was sent aloft to complete the repairs. The fleet was expected to reach Sydney today.