Two sailors on separate Sydney to Hobart yachts, Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline, have died at sea on the first night of the race. They were fatally struck by a boom – a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the mainsail – and mainsheet on their respective boats amid wild weather conditions that forced line honours favourite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw, among mass retirements.
The incident aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred about 30 nautical miles [55.5kms] east-south-east of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast, with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) receiving a mayday call just before midnight.
Roy Quaden, a 55-year-old crew member from Western Australia, was struck in the back of the head by the boom.
“It was moving violently through the night with challenging sea conditions, and a crew member suffered a significant head injury,” Supt Joseph McNulty told reporters.
Water police were deployed to assist the vessel and escorted it back into Jervis Bay, but despite CPR efforts from his fellow crew members, Quaden died.
The crew member aboard Bowline was struck approximately 30 nautical miles east-north-east of Batemans Bay and fell unconscious, with CPR also unsuccessful.
He has since been named by the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron as Nick Smith, 65, from South Australia. Smith had also suffered a head injury, at about 2.15am. NSW police vessel Nemesis was nearby and deployed immediately, McNulty said.
“The crew did a pretty substantial job of doing CPR, trying to keep that crew member alive, but their efforts were unfortunately met with the death of that person in the early hours of this morning,” McNulty said.
David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), which administers the race, told reporters on Friday afternoon that authorities initially thought Smith had, like Quaden, been hit by the boom, but had “now learned that wasn’t the case”.
“He was hit by the mainsheet and it threw him across the boat and unfortunately he hit his head on the winch and that’s what killed him.'’
Smith was described as “an experienced crew member” who was on his fifth Sydney-Hobart race.
“We extend our condolences to Nick’s family, friends and the crew of Bowline at this tragic time,” the squadron said in a statement, adding it would endeavour to provide counselling to crew members.
In a tribute to Smith on the squadron’s Facebook page, friends described him as “a great mate”.
“Your smiling face and laugh and willingness to help at anytime will never be forgotten,” one wrote.
The race’s death toll threatened to rise to three when a crew member fell off Porco Rosso at about 3.15am.
Details emerged of a “terrifying” incident in which 37-year-old Luke Watkins drifted for more than a kilometre before being rescued on the deadly night of racing. The sailor was blown overboard as the yacht sailed in strong winds past Green Cape on the New South Wales coast.
“That is one of the most terrifying experiences that you can have,” Jacobs said. Being washed overboard at night made it “tenfold more scary”, he said.
Watkins spoke to the media on Friday afternoon and described being thrown off the boat by a big wave which “completely washed the deck”, before being pinned underwater.
“I somehow managed to unclip myself from the boat as I could feel I was on my last breath,” he said. “When I popped up above the water, the boat was probably 200m in front of me.”
Watkins said he followed the safety protocol but after 10 minutes in the water, began feeling cold and tried to “keep the thoughts under control”.
“It was pretty rough, getting thrown down waves – it’s hard to keep yourself above water a lot of the time. So I swallowed a fair bit of salt water.”
The race continued on its passage to Constitution Dock, with the first boats expected to arrive later on Friday or early Saturday morning.
A second Bowline crew member who was injured with a suspected broken shoulder was taken on to Nemesis and into a waiting ambulance at Batemans Bay.
Police believed both vessels may have been changing sails at the time of the fatal accidents.
“So they weren’t actually sailing with the wind,” McNulty said. “That creates a different set of circumstances. The hull moves, the sails are moving, the booms are moving.”
The vessels, which were seized as evidence and all the passengers and crew members were being interviewed, McNulty said.
“Both those crew are doing [it] pretty tough at the moment … We’ve offered them some counselling,” he said.
“They are shaken up from what they’ve seen and what they’ve had to do, but gallantly, they provided CPR to their crew member through the night while they waited for police to attend, and they didn’t give up. They kept going until … those two men had lost their lives.”
Jacobs said “developed systems and procedures” helped save Watkins, the crew member who was washed overboard.
The incident triggered his emergency position-indicating radio beacon, a safety device that must be worn by all sailors in the race.
As a result, Amsa was automatically notified and contacted the race committee.
Amsa also deployed an aircraft to begin searching.
“They had, we believed, been washed about 1.2km away from the boat,” Jacobs said of Watkins.
As at 8.30am Friday, 16 yachts – from the total fleet of 104 – had retired from the race. Three had lost their masts, two had mainsail damage and the others had “various equipment failures”, Jacobs told reporters.
Jacobs said the northerly winds had pushed the vessels down the coast, with the lead yachts travelling “extremely fast”.
Jacobs said the CYCA would conduct an investigation into the incidents.
The vice-commodore said he was “personally surprised” a number of the super-maxi yachts had pulled out of the race, including Master Lock Comanche, URM and Alive.
“It is unusual that we get so many of the larger boats pulling out,” he said.
McNulty warned conditions could worsen overnight on Friday as the boats continue towards Tasmania.
“It’s going to be a challenging night in the Bass Strait, big seas are coming,” he said.
Anthony Albanese said his thoughts were with the two sailors and their families.
“The Sydney to Hobart is an Australian tradition, and it is heartbreaking that two lives have been lost at what should be a time of joy,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“We send our love and deepest condolences to their families, friends and loved ones.”
Six sailors were killed in storms during the 1998 running of the Sydney to Hobart, which triggered a NSW coronial inquest and mass reforms to the safety protocols that govern the race.
