Californian solo sailor Ken Barnes was rescued on Friday by a crew from the trawler Pesca Polaris, en route to Punta Arenas in Chile. The operation was directed by the Chilean Coastguard and Barnes and his dismasted 44ft steel yawl Privateer were overflown by a Chilean Navy Orion P3, as shown in these photos taken by the Chilean Navy.

A crew from the trawler took Barnes off by RIB, and we understand that he left his boat without scuttling her, as unfortunately seems to the habit these days.

As you can see from the photo above conditions for the rescue were excellent with light winds, slight seas and good visibility – fortunate considering that Barnes was dismasted 500 miles west-north-west of Cape Horn, at 54°S.