Search Ends For Yacht Racers

Authorities recovered the bodies of four sailors and gave up hope Tuesday of finding two others after a monstrous storm decimated the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race, its 90-mph winds and 35-foot swells snapping masts and flipping boats over.

A former British Olympic sailor and an Australian competitor were missing and presumed drowned, Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman Brian Hill said.

"We wouldn't stop searching for them if we thought they were still alive," said Hill. "It's tragic but most people would realize that we do have to be realistic."

Officials on Tuesday halted one of Australia's largest-ever maritime rescue operations after finding the bodies of four sailors over two days.

At the height of the rescue operation, 38 military and civilian aircraft were combing an area of 4,000 square nautical miles while navy boats and fishing trawlers weighed in below.

Military helicopters plucked about 50 other sailors to safety off the country's southeastern coast, 250 miles south of Sydney.

The race continued, however, finishing Tuesday morning when American Larry Ellison and his maxi yacht Sayonara arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, to take line honors ahead of Brindabella. Ellison, chief executive officer and founder of Oracle Corp., also won the race in 1995.

The 23-member crew arrived at Constitution Dock to a funereal atmosphere, rather than the usual popping of champagne corks and booming of cannons.

"It was just awful. I've never experienced anything remotely like this," Ellison said of the raging seas that peaked Sunday and Monday.

"It's been a very emotional experience to get here. This is not what this is supposed to be about. It's a tough crew, but the guys were choked up."

One of the missing sailors, 33-year-old Briton Glyn Charles, had represented Britain in the Star Class at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he finished 11th.

The other missing sailor was Australian John Dean, a crew member on the WWII-era yacht Winston Churchill, which sank.

The bodies of two other Winston Churchill crew members, Jim Lawler and Michael Bannister, were found Tuesday.

Two other sailors were found dead Monday after the 40-foot boat Business Post Naiad capsized 60 miles off the New South Wales town of Merimbula. The dead were both Australians: the yacht's owner-skipper Bruce Guy and crewman Phil Skeggs.

The four confirmed deaths from the storm have already made this the deadliest Sydney-to-Hobart race.

Prior to this week's carnage, there had been only two reported deaths in the 54-year history of Australia's greatest yacht race. The 725-mile race starts the day after Christmas and attracts top-class sailors and yachts from around the world.

Of the 115 yachts that entered this year, 70 withdrew from the race. Six boats were abandoned or sank.

Race organizers said a full inquiry would be held into the worlds worst yachting disaster since the Fastnet race off Ireland in 1979, in which 15 sailors died.

Helicopters hovered Tuesday over 35-foot swells to hoist dozens of sailors to safety. Many of the crew members were injured - with broken bones, dislocated shoulders, cuts on the face and hands - from being struck by broken rigging or tossed upside down when their boats capsized.

The bodies of Lawler and Bannister were winched Tuesday from a 9-foot swell. Navy helicopter pilot Tanzi Lea found them two miles apart and 50 miles offshore.

The three Winston Churchill crew members disappeared after six of their crew mates were plucked from two life rafts in the 30-foot seas of Bass Strait.

Helicopter pilot Nic Trimmer said the three were washed away by a single wave.

AP
Rescued Winston Churchill skipper Richard Winning

"After we got into the life raft and became separated from the others, the damned thing capsized twice on these great seas at night, which is bloody frightening, let me tell you," Winning said.

Shocked by the deaths in his crew, Winning vowed to give up ocean racing.

Chris Dickson, helmsman of the first-place Sayonara, said his boat's crew was thinking more about the sailors in trouble than the victory.

"Being here first is nice, but being here at all is a big thing, and we're thinking about those who are still out there, not thinking too much about how we've done," Dickson said.

"Anyone who is not scared in those conditions is not human," he added.

Before this year, only two sailors had perished since the Sydney-to-Hobart race started in 1945.

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