Volvo Ocean race: Australian sailor Alex Gough centre of man overboard drama on Scallywag
AUSTRALIAN sailor Alex Gough is lucky to be alive after being washed overboard from a yacht in the Volvo Ocean race. WATCH THE DRAMATIC RESCUE
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AUSTRALIAN sailor Alex Gough has spent seven frightening minutes in the ocean waiting to be rescued after being washed overboard from a yacht in the Volvo Ocean race.
The 24-year-old is part of the predominantly Australian crew aboard the Hong Kong entry Scallywag which is being skippered by Sydney sailor David Witt in the round-the-world race.
The dramatic man-overboard incident in the Pacific Ocean happened in daylight in the Melbourne to Hong Kong leg of the race, with the rescue filmed by an on-board reporter.
“He went out on the outrigger, I was driving, and we went off a big sea and it picked him up threw him off, like a horse,” said skipper David Witt who signed on former Sydney to Hobart veteran Grant Wharington for the leg.
It took just seven minutes for Gough, who was not wearing a life jacket, to be recovered but Witt, who went overboard himself during the 2015 Sydney to Hobart, said his crewmate was lucky the rescue took place in daylight.
The black crew gear of the team made it especially difficult for the crew to see Gough who was most visible when he held his arm in the air.
“The main thing is, we got him back on board,” Witt said. “He’s safe. But I think it’s shown everyone how hard it is to see the guy in the water. Even on a sunny day, 18 knots of wind … you wouldn’t want to be doing this in 20 knots in the dark.”
Gough admitted it was a big mistake not being tethered to the boat when he had moved outside the lifelines of the yacht.
“I was pretty stupid, but luckily the guys were on to it,” he said. “They turned around bloody quickly.
“I’m good. I’m fine. It was a bit scary but off we go again.”
The drama at sea follows on from six sailors being winched to safety off Ray Roberts’ Sydney to Hobart yacht Hollywood Boulevard off the Victorian coast on Sunday during her delivery back to Sydney.
Veteran sailor Michael Spies said the yacht started to take on water after hitting a sunfish and damaging its rudder, with the crew taking to a liferaft.