News

In an eventful 24 hours during the Indian Ocean Rowing Race 2009, which saw the withdrawal of Pairs Boat ‘Doing Time’, Solo boat ‘Old Mutual’ was also involved in an incident, when she was knocked down by a large wave that hit the side of the boat last night 

All Woodvale Class boats are designed to be self righting when the watertight integrity of the boat is maintained (all access hatches are shut tight).  Simon Prior, crew member onboard Old Mutual confirmed that his boat did exactly as designed and self righted as quickly as she turned over. 

Every safety precaution is put in place for all Woodvale Ocean Rowing Races and each entry must take a minimum amount of mandatory safety equipment, which includes an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon).  In this incident, the EPIRB was activated immediately on contact with water, notifying MRCC Falmouth that the boat was in distress. 

When voice contact had been made with Simon via Sat Phone, Simon confirmed that although shaken by this incident, both himself and the boat were OK and happy to continue on with the race.  On inspecting the boat following the incident, Simon confirmed that the only item of equipment damaged/lost as a result of the capsize was the EPIRB which has floated free of the boat.  However, Simon also has a PLB EPIRB onboard as a backup, which will now replace his main EPIRB incase of another emergency incident.

Woodvale Challenge would like to thank MRCC Canberra in this assistance during this incident last night.