A delicate and potentially hazardous rescue operation has begun to pluck a British solo yachtswoman from the storm-tossed Southern Ocean after her boat was wrecked during a round-the-world race.

Susie Goodall, at 29 the youngest competitor, and the only woman in the 30,000-mile Golden Globe Race, was injured when her yacht overturned. The boat lost its mast and flooded while 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn.

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A cargo ship which was sailing from China to Argentina has diverted to rescue Goodall, who is from Falmouth, Cornwall, and was expected to reach her position at about 5am on Friday.

Though conditions are much better than when her boat, DHL Starlight, flipped over, the waves could still be five metres high when the rescue vessel reaches her. She may have to scramble up a ladder to the ship’s bridge or be hauled up in a cargo net.

The captain and crew on board the Hong Kong-registered MV Tian Fu (Blessed by Heaven) were devising the best way to rescue Goodall as they sailed towards her.

A spokesperson for the race said: “Susie remains in regular contact with race HQ. The flooding is now under control, and she will endeavour to coax DHL Starlight’s engine to run again in case she is required to manoeuvre her yacht alongside the ship. She will also ensure that the yacht’s life raft is ready to deploy.

“It will still be dark when the MV Tian Fu reaches the scene and the rescue operation is unlikely to commence before daylight. It will be for the captain to decide the best method to transfer Goodall from yacht to ship. This could entail launching the ship’s own man-overboard vessel, or lowering a cargo net or ladder over the side for her to climb up from the yacht or her life raft.”

Susie Goodall map Susie Goodall map

Goodall said she was unable to hold down food or drink and felt quite weak, possibly because of seasickness. Messages received from her to the race headquarters on Thursday revealed that she was upset to be out of the race and desperate for a cup of tea.

She wrote in a series of bulletins: “Totally and utterly gutted … This motion is just horrible! Clinging on in my bunk … In need of a good cuppa tea! But sadly no cooker.”

On Wednesday, day 157 of her attempted circumnavigation, Goodall’s 11-metre (35ft) boat flipped over and dismasted in the storm while she was below deck. Water filled the hull and Goodall initially thought the boat had been holed. But she confirmed the hull was intact, the boat managed to right itself, and she told race control that she did not need immediate assistance.

The race is a back-to-basics event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s historic first solo non-stop circumnavigation. Eighteen skippers set out in boats similar to those sailed by Knox-Johnston – the craft are not equipped with modern technology or satellite-based navigation aids.

Goodall was in fourth place at the time, fighting for a podium finish but riding out a ferocious storm with 60-knot winds and massive seas.

In a text message to race control at 8.29am on Wednesday, she reported: “Taking a hammering! Wondering what on earth I’m doing out here!”

At 12.23pm she wrote: “Dismasted, hull OK. No form of jury rig [makeshift repairs], total loss” and gave the coordinates for her position.

After three attempts, the race HQ was able to raise Goodall on her emergency satellite phone, when she confirmed: “We were pitchpoled [rolled end over end] and I was thrown across the cabin and knocked out for a while.”

Goodall does not know exactly why she pitchpoled, but it is thought the boat could have surfed down the face of a huge wave and catapulted over. She had been collecting sea water for experiments and the glass bottles containing her samples were smashed in the incident, making conditions even more difficult and dangerous.

The skipper said she had been “beaten up and badly bruised’ with cuts and scratches and had a big bump on her head.

Asked shortly before the incident if the ocean was a friend or foe, Goodall had replied: “The ocean is a friend who turns on me now and again.”



