Stranded below with broken bones: the lonely injury ordeal of a Volvo Ocean Race sailor
Team Brunel sailor Annie Lush recounts the horror accident in the Southern Ocean that left her helpless in a bed bunk for five days
Hobbling around in a protective “moon boot”, Volvo Ocean Race sailor Annie Lush can attest that when you take on Mother Nature, sometimes she bites back.
The around-the-world yacht race is no easy life – there’s the searing daytime heat that can leave crews bored out of their minds and fractious; the lack of sleep; the freeze-dried food and the relentless cold at night.
But there’s also the scary feeling of knowing you could be stranded with a serious injury in the middle of nowhere.
Late in the first week of the third leg between Cape Town and Melbourne, Lush was thrown by a wave in the Southern Ocean and pinned against the lifelines of her Netherlands’ Team Brunel boat. She broke three bones – one in her back and two in her foot.
“I couldn’t move,” she said. “My injury had immobilised me. I was not in a good position where the wave had thrown me on the leeward side of the boat.”
