Canadian search rescue teams in the North Atlantic Ocean have rescued an ailing British sailor.

Chris Drummond, 62, from High Wycombe, U.K., was complaining of severe chest pains during one of the final legs of this year’s Clipper Round the World Race when the decision was made to evacuate him.

The daring rescue took place Friday aboard the ocean racing yacht IchorCoal, which was about 500 km southeast of Halifax when the distress call was made. The 70-foot boat is one of 12 identical Tony Castro-designed Clipper 70 yachts competing in the race.

In an after-action report uploaded online, IchorCoal skipper Rich Gould called the challenging helicopter rescue “very impressive stuff.”

Gould described the noise as “unfathomable” when the chopper appeared overhead. “I could actually feel the throbbing of the rotor blades run straight through my chest.”

A Defence Department spokesperson confirmed the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax deployed two aircraft — a CC-130 Hercules airplane and CH-149 Cormorant helicopter — from Greenwood, N.S.-based 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron to perform the rescue.

When weather conditions forced them to ditch their initial approach, two search-and-rescue technicians boarded the vessel and used a rescue basket to successfully hoist Drummond into the helicopter above. According to Gould, it took 14 minutes for the technicians to board, collect Drummond and then extract themselves.

“We commend the efforts made by the 413 rescue squadron for their professionalism and expertise to ensure that this individual received the care they required,” said Sub-Lt. Jamie Tobin of Joint Task Force Atlantic in Halifax.

According to race organizers, Drummond was then transferred to Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Halifax. A hospital spokesperson confirmed Friday evening that Drummond was still in hospital and receiving care.

The race’s founder, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, said the crew “was in good hands” thanks to the joint efforts of the Canadian Coast Guard and Department of National Defence. This year marks the 10th edition of the worldwide competition that invites “anyone” to sail across the globe’s most challenging oceans, regardless of their experience.

Knox-Johnston, the winner of the Sunday Times Golden Globe — first solo race around the world — in 1968-69, explained “sailing across the ocean is never 100 per cent safe. It can’t be.”

“There is always a risk of being thrown around the boat, cracked ribs, broken bones,” he told the Star in a telephone interview from Britain on Friday. “But if it was easy, who would want to do it?”

A Halifax company that provides remote medical advice also played a role in the successful medevac. Praxes medical director and emergency medicine physician Dr. John Ross said a doctor on call responded to a satellite phone call from the IchorCoal.

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“A skipper will tell us what they are seeing and we talk the patient through a range of questions,” he said. In assessing Drummond’s condition, “his answers were making it all the more suspicious that this could be heart-related chest pain.”

The emergency calls Praxes doctors receive, Ross explained, “are rarely boring” and range from back pain, rashes to more critical issues like broken bones. A Clipper press release said doctors have remotely treated several injuries so far during this year’s race, from “torn torsos” to “gallstones.”

In a post-rescue update posted on the race’s website, Rich said the entire crew is wishing Drummond “a swift recovery” as they continue onward to the final leg of their 74,000-km journey.

The race concludes where it began as the teams sail into London on July 30.

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