Stuff of nightmares: Chinese gybe in Southern Ocean
Dramatic scenes onboard Kosatka, the Russian entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, as the 70 foot speed machine chinese-gybes in a gale of wind.
Skipper Andreas Hanakamp described what happened.
"The boat slowed down almost to a standstill, up to the mast in solid green water. Then, everything went into slow motion. Not a violent knock down, but the boat slowly turning, heeling more and more to wrong side, the boom high up in the air until coming over, and the kite flying around the forestay to the new leeward side and flapping in the 35 knots of breeze.
Fate was inexorable, nothing left to be done, but wait for the inevitable."
Yachting Monthly, 20 November 2008
