Australian Navy for Southern Ocean Rescue - Again

2:57 AM Fri 19 Dec 2008 GMT

'Solo Yann Elies - broken leg and in the Southern Ocean'

The Australian Navy is once again to come to the aid of a sailor in the Southern Ocean, bringing back memories of the amazing rescue of Tony Bullimore several years ago.

The Australian navy ship is sailing into the Southern Ocean today(Friday) to rescue a stricken French round-the-world sailor who broke his leg when his yacht hit a large wave.

The HMAS Arunta frigate may take three days to reach 34-year-old Yann Elies on his 60-foot yacht, which is about 900 nautical miles south of Perth on Australia's west coast.

'But he's in a pretty dire situation with a broken leg and onboard a yacht by himself in the middle of the Southern Ocean,' Stephen Langford, a doctor, told local radio from the Arunta.

Elies is competing in the Vendee Globe round-the-world solo yacht race. His yacht Generali was hit by a large wave on Thursday night as he changed sails, throwing him against the boat and breaking his thighbone.

'A sudden jolt when he was on the foredeck stopped the boat very suddenly, he was thrown to the deck, and he has broken his left leg,' Erwan Steff, logistics and administration manager for Team Generali, said on the race website (www.vendeeglobe.org).

'He crawled back inside the boat to be safe and there he called us, his team, to request immediate assistance.' Two fellow competitors were also sailing towards Elies.

'The job of these two skippers is mostly psychological support, that is to say that Yann knows that two fellow skippers are close by,' said Vendee Globe Race Director Denis Horeau.

'If absolutely necessary, and I emphasise absolutely necessary, we can count on their assistance,' he said on the race website.

by Michael Perry/Sail-World

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Australian Navy for Southern Ocean Rescue - Again

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