Swiss yacht shipwrecked by whale

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Describing his predicament as a "shipwreck at the end of the world", Swiss round-the-world sailor Bernt Luchtenborg knows he was lucky to survive a run-in with a whale.

But the decorated yachtsman had only one thing on his mind after being rescued from the Southern Ocean – returning to his yacht, the Horizons, and somehow continuing his record-setting adventure.

Luchtenborg was five months into an attempt at twice circumnavigating the globe, both solo and non-stop, when his 52-foot yacht hit "an underwater object" about 800 kilometres south of Stewart Island.

He placed an emergency call to New Zealand late on Monday night. The Rescue Co-ordination Centre sent an air force Orion to assess the situation, then diverted a cruise liner to the stricken vessel.

The Seven Seas Mariner, which was sailing from Australia to Milford Sound, sailed south and rescued Luchtenborg about 8am yesterday. It is due to dock in Milford Sound this morning.

Luchtenborg's wife, Anita, speaking from her home in Lucerne, Switzerland, told The Dominion Post that her husband was relieved to have been rescued.

"He's OK, and he's happy he's on that boat," she said. "He was scared, absolutely. He's very, very happy now. But the first thing he wants to do is to save the Horizons."

On his blog, Luchtenborg, 56, said his rudder no longer worked after a collision with what he thought was "a sleeping whale". He described his situation as a "shipwreck at the end of the world".

He wrote he was encountering six-metre-high waves and violent squalls.

Mrs Luchtenborg said her husband hoped to charter a fishing boat to go in search of the Horizons. "He wants to catch his boat. She is alone on the sea."

It is thought the yacht is still afloat somewhere in the Southern Ocean, west of Stewart Island. Australian authorities have issued a warning about the yacht, as it remains a hazard to navigation.

The Horizons was custom built in Germany. According to Luchtenborg's website, its aluminium hull is up to a centimetre thick in places.

He has completed three Atlantic crossings, including two solo, and was planning on sailing 100,000 kilometres non-stop around the globe both with and against the wind. He set off from Cuxhaven, in Germany, in mid-June, and had already sailed across the North Sea, the English Channel, the North Atlantic, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean.

His journey, sponsored by several private nautical companies, was twofold – he was also collecting water samples from the Southern Ocean for chemical analysis.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre search and rescue mission co-ordinator Dave Wilson thanked the crew of the cruise liner for a successful rescue "in difficult circumstances".

- © Fairfax NZ News