DAL crew rescues desperate yachtsman off Table Bay

RAY SMUTS
NEVER IN his wildest dreams could single-handed racing yachtsman, Graham Wentworth, have anticipated seeing the New Year in with a glass of sparkling wine on the bridge of a container ship after being plucked to safety from cruel seas by crew of the DAL East London – ironically bound for his home town. Wentworth, 48, sailing his 10-metre trimaran Pennypinchers in the 2006 Governor’s Cup from Cape Town to the Atlantic Ocean island of St Helena, encountered heavy seas on New Year’s Eve. Using the last of his remaining cell phone battery power, he made an unsuccessful attempt to alert the mail ship, RMS St Helena. He then made contact with his wife who, in turn, alerted race officials before the by now desperate yachtsman, drifting in the dark and battered by strong winds, sent out a satellite distress signal. This was picked up by the 178-metre DAL East London which soon located the foundering boat and rescued Wentworth some 420 nautical miles north-west of Table Bay. A highly experienced sailor with more than
70 000 nautical miles and two previous voyages to St Helena to his credit, the yachtsman was disappointed at not having completed the
1 600 nautical mile race and losing his boat to tempestuous seas – which also disabled several other boats – but he was certainly thankful to be alive.