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SYDNEY: An Australian navy frigate was racing against deteriorating weather conditions Saturday to reach a French yachtsman badly injured during a solo round-the-world race.
Skipper Yann Elies, 34, is unable to move freely after breaking his thighbone in the remote Southern Ocean but had managed to take some painkillers, the organisers of the Vendee Globe race said.
"He was able to eat, to drink and has managed to take some painkillers," said Erwan Steff, a spokesman for the yachtsman's Generali team.
"As soon as he did that, about half an hour later he was able to sleep better, and since then his morale as been on the up.
"It is the first time in two days that I have heard my friend smile and laugh a little," Steff said on the race website.
Elies was forced to abandon the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race on Thursday while in eighth place aboard Generali in the Southern Ocean about 800 nautical miles south of the Australian coast.
He managed to drag himself into the cabin and activate the yacht's autopilot after breaking his leg in a fall when a huge wave slammed into the vessel as he was changing a sail.
But he has been unable to secure the 60-foot (18-metre) yacht for bad weather forecast to hit the area.
The Australian navy frigate HMAS Arunta, carrying a doctor from the famed Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) left the West Australian port of Fremantle before dawn Friday for the long dash to the stricken yachtsman.
RFDS medical director Steven Langford said weather conditions were deteriorating and Elies was suffering badly.
"His thigh and knee are extremely swollen, and he's really just staying in his bunk, it's too painful to move," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The doctor and crew have been rehearsing plans for the difficult rescue, he said.
"In the high seas, coming up alongside a bobbing yacht and then getting on board and then getting the patient sorted into a stretcher and then back into the rig's all going to be very challenging," he said.
"And I hear the weather's worsening down there at the moment.
"Our RFDS doctor will be going on the boarding party and trying to get onto the yacht.
"He'll be putting in some anaesthetic blocks to try to take the pain away and help splint the sailor's injuries so that they can get him off as comfortably as possible."
The race organisers said another competitor, Marc Guillemot, had changed course to meet Elies early Friday morning and would remain nearby providing support over the radio until the arrival of the Australian naval vessel.
This is not the first time Australian forces have rescued Vendee Globe racers. They went to the aid of Briton Tony Bullimore and Frenchman Thierry Dubois in the 1996-97 race.
The rescues drew criticism because of the cost to the Australian taxpayer, but Navy chief Vice Admiral Russ Crane said the navy had no hesitation in responding to the request to help Elies.
He said the HMAS Arunta may reach the sailor early on Sunday but could be delayed by bad weather and heavy seas.
Race director Denis Horeau said the Australians had given an assurance they would care for Elies.
"They are very experienced and diligent operators and no one knows the conditions in the Southern Ocean better than they do," he said.
Thirty yachts began the gruelling round-the-world classic, which is held every four years, from the French Atlantic port of Les Sables d'Olonne on November 9, but 12 have now abandoned the race.
More than 633 nautical miles ahead of the injured skipper, Frenchman Michel Desjoyeaux is leading the rest of the pack on the 39th day of the race, with more than 12,000 nautical miles to go to the finish line.
- AFP/yb
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