Ten French sailors plucked to safety from their capsized yacht off the Otago coast yesterday will be back as they begin a mission to recover their vessel.
The crew, who were taking part in the Jules Verne round-the-world yacht race, was rescued uninjured when their craft overturned in heavy seas 80 nautical miles (145km) off the coast. Three rescue helicopters winched the crew off the hull of the Groupama III and flew them to Dunedin about 3.30pm. The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) launched a rescue mission after its equivalent in France called at 1.20pm (NZ time) to report it had picked up a signal from the yacht's emergency position indicating radio beacon. Head of Search and Rescue at Dunedin police Senior Sergeant Brian Benn said the sailors had been busy today finding a boat and organizing the salvage mission. The sailors had been well looked after during their stay in Dunedin and spent last night celebrating and reliving the day's adventures. The French Embassy thanked New Zealand rescue services. The Groupama III had just passed the halfway point in the circumnavigation, and was heading for Cape Horn after a relatively slow passage across the southern India Ocean.
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