The accident occurred on Thursday, 7 December in the Canary Islands. At the time, the "Tyger of London", a Comet 45S yacht, was travelling south of Tenerife with an unknown destination. On board: four men and one woman. At the same time, the "St Barbara V", a Rustler 42 from England, was sailing close by and on the same course, coming from La Gomera. Both yachts were sailing within sight of each other against a strong easterly wind and high waves. At the time there was a force 5 wind, with gusts of 6 to 7.
As the crew of the "St Barbara V" later reported, the "Tyger of London" suddenly capsized after having run off course briefly. The boat then capsized within 30 seconds, mast down. At this point, the keel was apparently already completely torn off and no longer attached to the ship. An emergency call was immediately made on the "St Barbara V", the mainsail was recovered, the engine was started and a course was set for the capsized ship. At the time of the encounter, the five crew members of the "Tyger of London" were already swimming in the water not far from their capsized yacht. After several attempts in the high waves, the crew of the "St Barbara V" were finally able to rescue the shipwrecked sailors and bring them to the harbour of Las Galletas. All five sailors were wearing automatic lifejackets at the time of the accident.
The capsized yacht, which was drifting in the water, was towed to the harbour of Acantilao de los Gigantes by the rescue services and the Spanish coastguard, where it was initially secured. The ship will then be righted and craned ashore in the coming days. There, experts from the accident investigation authorities will look into the reasons for the keel breakage.
The "Tyger of London" flies the British flag and is used by a company based in Switzerland for ocean cruises and skipper training. The 14.20 metre Comet 45S yacht was built by Comar Yachts in Italy and has been in intensive use for eight years. When asked by YACHT online on the phone, the skipper did not want to make any statements about the course of the accident. Just this much: "We were incredibly lucky to be alive." The skipper also praised the seamanship of the crew on the "St Barbara V". "They reacted brilliantly and did exactly the right thing. We are very grateful to them."
The head of the Comar shipyard in Italy, Massimo Guardigli, only found out about the accident involving the "Tyger of London" when asked by YACHT online. He says that Comar Yachts has already built more than 1,200 yachts and that no problems with the keels or keel suspensions have ever been reported before. Instead, Guardigli suspects that the incident may have been preceded by grounding and thus structural damage. As soon as the "Tyger of London" is ashore, he wants to fly to Tenerife himself and see the damage to the hull and keel suspension on site.
Michael Good
Editor Test & Technology
