Remote Pacific rescue after freak gybe - read the story

8:53 PM Mon 24 May 2010 GMT

'Wind Child Rescue.JPG' . Click Here to view large photo

The rescue of a sailor 1,400 miles off the North American coastline with a freak injury caused by a flying gybe is a stark reminder to make sure your preventer is in good enough condition to take any kind of weather. American sailor Mike Kalahar was rescued from a Beneteau 36S7, skippered by Dutch sailor Rudy Heessels, about 1,400 miles southwest of La Paz, Mexico, when he sustained head and larynx injuries last month after an accidental gybe. Most swinging booms cause head injuries, sometimes fatal, but in this case the sailor was pinned around the throat by the mainsail ...

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by Nancy Knudsen