A port and starboard incident at the Ernst & Young regatta on Saturday led to the sinking of one of Sunsail’s Sunfast 47s. The Sunsail fleet of 40 Sunfast 47s chartered by Ernst & Young for the accountancy regatta this weekend were racing in a Force 5-6 round the cans in the East Solent on Saturday when the collision between the two yachts happened. Fortunately no one was injured and the crew was airlifted to safety by the Gosport and Fareham Inhore Rescue Service.

Apparently the fleet was on an upwind leg of course when a Sunsail-skippered boat on starboard clipped the transom of an Ernst and Young-skippered yacht and holed it above the waterline. According to Chris Satchwell, the General Manager at Sunsail, it’s difficult to say exactly what happened at this stage but the damage was obviously more serious that first thought. The crew of the holed yacht continued to race for four miles before they discovered they were filling up with water. The skipper remained with yacht but was transferred to the rescue boat when it became obvious the boat was sinking.

The yacht is currently lying on the seabed in the north Channel off Lee-on-Solent but Sunsail’s salvage company hope to raise her later today. Satchwell continued: “The salvage team will put airbags round to bring her to the surface. She’ll then be taken to Osborne Bay where the damage will assessed before hopefully being towed back to the Port Solent base later today.”