Tragedy in round world sailing race

I was really sad to hear of the death by drowning of sailor Simon Speirs in the current Clipper Round the World Race.

Drowning seems a ghastly way to go, especially while you are attached to a yacht, one moment involved in the excitement of the race and the next fighting for survival. Like many ocean-travellers, I know a variation of what it feels like when things go wrong suddenly.

My first reaction was genuine surprise: the intake didn’t sting. My lungs didn’t feel on fire. I wasn’t compelled to cough and choke.

In Simon's case, it seems he was involved with one or two other crewmen in a sail change on the foredeck off South Africa.

Apparently a wave swept Simon, aged 60, overboard. It seems that either the lifejacket safety line or a deck fitting gave under the weight.

Trapped underneath

I say it seems he wasn't held at the hull because the early news was that apparently the crew did find him and recovered his body.

I know, I think I know, how Simon would have felt when the mishap began.

In Sailing to Purgatory, I recall the very scary event of nearly drowning, trapped under water.

When a storm overturned the open boat, Homeward Bound 2, I was trapped beneath the ocean surface. I held my breath, of course, while feeling about for whatever obstruction held me down. Half a minute passed, three quarters of a minute, perhaps more than a minute. Of course, the situation was desperate, almost beyond.

Now I couldn’t think of a sensible reason not to breathe, not that a lot of sensible thinking was possible by then. Not breathing made the distress worse by the second – worse than worse. Perhaps one breath wouldn’t matter. At the same time it surely had to answer the painful compulsion.

Genuine surprise

By that stage, it wasn’t much of a choice. I opened my mouth. I gasped.  Continues of the blogs for my ocean travel, adventure book, Sailing to Purgatory, here >>>> at SailingToPurgatory.com