Safety Probe After 2 Deaths At Yacht Race

Weather wreaks havoc on Sydney to Hobart classic as LawConnect cruise to victory

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SYDNEY - Two sailors were killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney to Hobart yacht race, officials said on Dec 27, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas.

One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom - a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the mainsail - as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organisers said.

The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Smith was described as "an experienced crew member" who was on his fifth Sydney-Hobart race.

"Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and that's what killed him," Jacobs said, revising earlier official reports that both sailors had been hit by booms.

"The sailing community is a very close community, and there's about a thousand sailors on the water in this race and to lose two in this fashion is just devastating."

Other crew members tried to revive the two Australians but were unsuccessful.