Pensioners’ voyage of lifetime turns to nightmare

TWO Danish pensioners are recovering in West Cork after a “voyage of a lifetime” almost turned to tragedy.

One, a novice sailor, suffered chronic sea-sickness, forcing his experienced sailor friend to take control of the yacht single-handed for two days without sleep.

They encountered severe weather conditions, the yacht suffered engine failure, and both men were close to exhaustion when they were rescued from their crippled vessel during a daring rescue off the south-west coast early yesterday.

The yacht’s owner, John Olesen, 69, paid tribute to the Baltimore and Castletownbere lifeboat crews.

“It was atrocious weather conditions out there. I was amazed at the level of seamanship they displayed to get alongside us and put a mechanic on board.”

Mr Oleson, an experienced sailor, left Denmark last May on his 36ft yacht, Dana, on a round-the-world voyage.

He was joined in the Azores last week by his old school friend, Victor Sander, 72, who had always dreamed of a lengthy ocean voyage.

Hurricane season forced them to abandon plans to cross the Atlantic and 11 days ago, they set sail from the Azores bound for Kinsale in Cork.

But soon after leaving port, Mr Sander was struck down with severe seasickness and Mr Oleson was forced to crew the yacht single-handed. He hadn’t slept for 48-hours when the yacht encountered gale force winds and heavy seas, about 28 miles south-west of Baltimore yesterday.

The alarm was raised and the Baltimore lifeboat launched just after 2am.

“The yacht was in serious peril. Her engines were disabled,” an RNLI spokesperson said.

The yacht was sailing north under reefed mainsail using self-steering gear and the lifeboat crew felt it was impractical to tow it.

As dawn broke, and despite mountainous seas, coxswain Eoin Ryan manoeuvred the 47ft lifeboat alongside the yacht, and RNLI mechanic Cathal Cotrell jumped on board.

He took control of the yacht and when the Castletownbere lifeboat arrived on the scene just after 5am, it towed the vessel, with Mr Cotrell at the helm, back to Castletownbere by 8am.

The Danish men received medical attention locally and spent yesterday relaxing.

Mr Oleson is making plans to continue his voyage up the west coast of Ireland, around Scotland, and back to Denmark. Mr Sander has decided to keep his feet on dry land and plans to hire a car and tour west Cork.