Daily Times

Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney to Hobart yacht race, officials said on Friday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas.

One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organisers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

“Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and that’s what killed him,” Jacobs said, revising earlier official reports that both sailors had been hit by booms.

Other crew tried to revive the two Australians but were unsuccessful. They were the first fatalities in the 628-nautical mile bluewater classic since 1998.

Weather conditions played a part in the deaths, Jacobs told reporters, with one of the boats facing 30-38 knot winds and seas of two-to-three metres (six-10 feet).

“They’re challenging conditions. You only need to be hit broadside by a wave and it will knock you across,” Jacobs said, adding however that the weather was not “extreme” for ocean racers.