Tim Kent and Rick McKenna have been rescued from their upturned yacht in the Atlantic Ocean, Everest Horizontal, while competing in the Bermuda 1-2 race on Friday, June 20.

The 50ft yacht, which Kent had only just completed the Around Alone in, capsized when the keel bulb fell off 110 miles off the Bermudan coast. As the boat went over Kent launched a flare but was unable to reach the EPIRB. The pair scrambled onboard the turtled hull and managed to hang on to the rudders in big seas created by the 30kts of wind. Suddenly they spotted a luminous light of a cruise ship heading towards them so they sent off nine more emergency rocket flares. The Nordic Empress, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, slowly approached the yacht and launched a lifeboat and both men were rescued.

Kent commented: “I was pulled onto the lifeboat like a dead mackerel. I am so happy to be rescued, and at the same time it is a bittersweet occasion because my entire life just disappeared before my eyes. Everything I own in this world is on that boat.”

Meanwhile, co-Around Alone skippers Alan Paris and Brad Van Liew, have started research to execute a salvage of Kent’s boat. Van Liew who is currently recruiting divers and packing his own bag to head to Bermuda is optimistic and ready to embark on the recovery mission, commenting: “Tim is like family to me and I think we have no choice but to get on the water and attempt to salvage the boat for him. It will be a tough job to find her and then a tougher job to disassemble the rigging underwater and drag her to safety without severe damage.”