WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) — A British sailor died after a wave swept her into the ocean during the Clipper Round the World yacht race across the Pacific.
Sarah Young was cleaning the cockpit of her crew’s boat, the IchorCoal, in unfavorable weather when a wave knocked her into the guard wire. A second wave then swept the 40-year-old adventurer into the ocean, according to a statement from race coordinators.
Young was not tethered to the yacht at the time of the incident, prompting concern and an investigation into the exact cause of her death, which is presumed to be drowning or exposure.
It took about an hour to recover Young’s body because it was hard to see her in the harsh weather conditions. Rescuers tried without success to resuscitate her.
Young’s death comes on the 12th day of the race, which began Qingdao, China and ends in Seattle. She is the second person to die of the IchorCoal’s team since crew member Andrew Ashman was knocked unconscious in September, BBC reported.
“We’ve only had two fatalities in something like 4,000 people, in 10 races around the world. It’s a shock to all of us and we want to find out exactly why it happened,” Robin Knox-Johnston, founder of the Clipper Round the World yacht race, said. “Why wasn’t she hooked on? This is what I’ve got to establish.”
According to CNN, the IchorCoal vessel was located approximately several hundred miles east of Japan at the time of the incident. The race takes about a month to complete.
Knox-Johnston said in the statement from Clipper: “The safety of our crew has always been and continues to be our main priority and we shall investigate the incident immediately in full cooperation with the authorities.”
