There were cheers — and tears — Friday at the arrival of a round-the-world racing yacht in Rio de Janeiro after an Atlantic crossing during which a British crew member died.
The 22 crew lined up on the 70-foot (21.3 meter) Clipper racing yacht “IchorCoal” as they emerged from hazy sunshine off Brazil’s coast to enter Marina da Gloria, where next year’s Olympic sailing events will be based.
Fellow race competitors and friends cheered and tooted horns to greet the yacht’s completion of the first leg in a 40,000-mile world-girdling marathon that began in London a month ago.
But the arrival was overshadowed by the tragic death of British paramedic Andrew Ashman, 49, who was killed during an accidental maneuver in difficult sea conditions when the “IchorCoal” was heading south near Portugal.
Crew and the skipper Darren Ladd all wore black arm patches commemorating Ashman, who is believed to have been killed almost instantaneously when he was struck either by the boom or the main sheet, the pulley system controlling the boom and massive main sail.
It took almost 24 hours before “IchorCoal” was able to reach a harbor in Portugal to hand over the body.
At the Rio Olympic marina, one woman lifted her sunglasses to dry tears and several of the crew on the “IchorCoal” appeared too overcome by emotion to join the celebrations.
Ladd said the tragedy had provoked “a lot of soul-searching, a lot of talking” before the crew decided collectively against abandoning the race — and instead pushing the boat as hard as possible in the Atlantic crossing to Rio.
“It massively changed a team that had just wanted to be here to one that wanted to do well,” Ladd said after stepping onto dry land.
He warned that the hard part may come now that the adrenalin of racing day and night has gone.
“When you come ashore there’s all these extra emotions that come bubbling up,” he said.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race features 12 identical boats crewed by amateurs and skippered by professionals. This was the first fatality in the race, which was launched in 1996 by British sailing legend Robin Knox-Johnston.
– ‘Freak accident’ –
Although yachting is inherently dangerous, safety measures keep deaths rare. The Briton was said to be an experienced sailor who had been made watch leader, with much day-to-day responsibility over the crew.
Although Ashman’s death remains under investigation, the accident is believed to have happened when a rope holding the boom and main sail in position snapped, sending the gear swinging with tremendous force across the deck.
“This one was a freak accident of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the preventer snapped,” “IchorCoal’s” team coordinator, Louise Thomas, said.
His death “was quite quick,” she said. But the aftermath was ghastly for the close-knit crew, many of whom did not immediately know what had happened because they were busy managing the speeding boat in big waves and strong wind.
When they finally crossed the Equator and into the southern hemisphere on the way to Brazil, the sailors celebrated with traditional gifts to the mythological god of the sea, Neptune.
For Ashman, that meant casting a wreath and a jar filled with notes written by his former crewmates into the ocean.
“We did a nice ceremony for Andy,” Thomas, 32, said. “It was the gift of words.”