Rolex Sydney Hobart: Koomooloo abandoned
Mike Freebairn's Queensland yacht, Ray White Koomooloo, put out a mayday on December 27 advising they were taking on water and needed urgent assistanceThe Kaufman 41 with a varnished mahogany hull was approximately 70 miles off Narooma.
The British steel yacht Adventure, skippered by Charles Roberts took Koomooloo's eight crew on board. Adventure, a 20.42 metre yacht on her first ever race to Hobart, was originally built as a BT Challenge entry. The British Army has taken over Adventure as a training vessel for an around the world adventure. The Rolex Sydney Hobart was part of the 10-leg voyage.
A devastated Freebairn, talking by phone on Adventure said: "We were travelling comfortably under full main and No. 3 headsail. We were experiencing 22-28 knot winds on six metre seas -- but we were fine."
"We came hard off a wave and water started coming in. We ripped up all the floor boards to see where the water was coming in, but couldn't locate the problem, so started bailing for a while."
The crew immediately tacked the boat and made course for the nearest land but no matter how much bailing they did they just couldn't keep up with the influx of water.
"We decided to abandon the boat for crew safety reasons. We did everything we could to try to save the boat. The last sighting I had of her, she was still afloat; we did not open the sea cocks," he said.
Koomooloo, the 1968 winner of the Sydney Hobart, has been part of the Fairbairn family for 10 years and together they restored every nut and bolt but never took away the essence of what she preserved.
Photo by Suellen Hurling: Koomooloo sailing just outside Sydney Heads at start of Rolex Sydney Hobart
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