Circumnavigator Rescued After Days Adrift
Cruise ship saves sailor
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A French sailor was rescued from treacherous seas about 500 nautical miles off the coast of Tasmania Monday morning. Sixty-three-year-old Alain Delord, who was attempting to sail around the world solo, said a massive wave hit his boat, the Tchouk Tchouk Nougaton, and snapped his mast in four pieces. He ended up spending three days in a life raft in freezing temperatures and 20-foot waves.
The MV Orion, the luxury cruise ship that saved him, was on a journey to Antarctica when Australian authorities asked it to divert its course to save the Frenchman. The ship went 1,100 miles and 50 hours off course to find him.
Delord’s website says he was sailing the route of the round-the-world Vendée Globe yacht race, and that he had already been at sea three months. He was not an official competitor.
Via Global Post