Helsal 2 the famous Sydney to Hobart yacht has gone aground off Grange beach in South Australia on the weekend. She had just underwent a refit and was on a test cruise when she began to take on water. She was built in 1979 and competed in 17 Sydney to Hobarts along with many other races to her credit. The photo below was taken yesterday and a salvage operation is underway at the moment. fortunately the weather has been good up to this stage.
Select to expand quote2Shakey said..
Helsal 2 the famous Sydney to Hobart yacht has gone aground off Grange beach in South Australia on the weekend. She had just underwent a refit and was on a test cruise when she began to take on water. She was built in 1979 and competed in 17 Sydney to Hobarts along with many other races to her credit. The photo below was taken yesterday and a salvage operation is underway at the moment. fortunately the weather has been good up to this stage.
Now salvaged after sinking a second time and losing it's mast plus being towed whilst upside down. Apparently mast salvage is being conducted separately.
Looks looks like it might be missing some deck hardware.
Select to expand quotegarymalmgren said..
In word of why she "began to take on water"?
Not that I've heard but when you run aground near a beach presumably with breaking waves...
The story that I heard was that she was on a shakedown cruise along the coast after re-fitting the mast recently. She started taking on water very quickly. The solo skipper then decided to beach her to avoid risking sinking in deep water. While watching from the jetty on Friday, the salvage crew seemed to be having a lot of trouble pumping the water out of the boat as she was on such a lean in shallow water and they could not get her upright enough due to the keel in the sand. They tried to put a floatation collar around the bow but this flew off when the boat rolled over to the other side. It looks like they must have towed her partly submerged. At least she is now in the marina at the RSAYS.
