Yachtsmen may owe lives to no insurance

Press, 10 August 1985, Page 13

Yachtsmen may owe lives to no insurance

By

CHRIS PETERS

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney Mr Warwick Fromm decided ?1800 was too much money to spend on insuring his 10.7 m sloop Horizon for the Auckland to Mooloolaba race and put the money instead into extra safety equipment. The decision may have saved his life and that of his crew.

The boat was rolled over by a rogue wave as it battled raging seas on the final stage of the race on Wednesday, lost its mast, and is now drifting somewhere in the Pacific about 130 km off the Queensland coast.

Mr Fromm, aged 47, and hij, five-man crew are stranded in Mooloolaba,

60km north of Brisbane, with only the clothes they are standing up in after a dramatic rescue involving the Royal Australian Air Force and a giant coal bulk carrier.

Speaking after a fruitless air search for the yacht on Thursday, Mr Fromm said disaster struck just after 12.30 p.m. on Wednesday when he and three other crewmen went below after changing watch.

“It was in mountainous seas, the winds were howling at over 60 knots, we had taken down the mainsail and were under a storm jib,” Mr Fromm said.

“There were two men on watch when a huge wave came from the opposite direction and rolled us over. No one saw it coming.

“It was chaos down be-

low. The windows were smashed in and she filled with water. We got out on deck and found the two crewmen had been washed over the side. Half of the mast had gone as well. “We always wear lifelines and we hauled the two back on board then started bailing and pumping like mad,” Mr Fromm said. “I didn’t insure it for the race because the fee was too much — $lBOO is a lot of money for me,” he said. “Instead, I put the money into extra safety equipment, including the locator beacon. I suppose you could say it saved our lives. “I don’t regret the decision. I don’t know even now that I would insure it for another race,” Mr Fromm said.