The entire crew of the yacht Monsun are safely aboard a ship, after being rescued from a liferaft yesterday in the Atlantic Ocean.

The 46ft, double-masted ketch was competing in the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge at the time of the incident.

A mayday report from Monsun, confirmed by the fleet duty yacht, stated that it was “encountering 40-knot winds from the south and taking on water.” The crew was forced to abandon their yacht and deploy a liferaft. The British Army yacht Discoverer, which was in second place overall and some 400 miles away, reportedly received Monsun’s call as part of a general safety call and passed it on to the rescue directing center in Falmouth, England. The US Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center, in Norfolk, was contacted and coordinated the rescue.

Polaris and Salute, two of the 57 yachts competing in the race, were in close position to Monsun and assisted in communications with the Canadian Coast Guard aircraft en route to the location. The crew spent approximately three hours in their liferaft. At 1700 EDST the US Coast Guard reported that all crew were safely recovered.

Monsun is owned by Peter Flügge of Bremen, Germany and five of the six crewmembers are family members. Monsun has crossed the Atlantic four times.