The Australian airforce has completed an emergency medical supply drop to a seriously ill crewman aboard a yacht competing in a round-the-world race, maritime authorities said yesterday.
The Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) P-3 Orion made a 3,000-nautical-mile round trip to deliver emergency medical supplies to the yacht, which is being battered by strong winds and high seas in the Southern Ocean.
Keith Kilpatrick (40), a crewman on Amer Sports One, an 18-metre vessel competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, is dehydrated after developing severe intestinal pain, according to information conveyed to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). Kilpatrick, an American, is being treated by the boat's navigator, Roger Nilson, who is a doctor.
AMSA, Australia's co-ordinating authority for ocean rescues, has been monitoring the situation since late Wednesday. A spokesman said yesterday it has yet to receive a request from the Amer Sports One's skipper, New Zealander Grant Dalton, to prepare to airlift the stricken sailor.
The RAAF dropped seven boxes of medicines, including morphine and saline solution, to the yacht. The Orion circled overhead to guide the yacht to the supplies. Conditions were described as "treacherous" even though wind-speed had eased to 13-knots and the swell to two-to-three metres.
The yacht lies sixth out of eight vessels battling through the Southern Ocean in the Cape Town to Sydney leg of the race. Amer Sports One was located about 1,500 nautical miles southwest of Australia's western coastline when the supplies were dropped.
Kilpatrick has sailed eight trans-Pacific races from Los Angeles to Waikiki and competed in world championships and the 1992 Olympic trials.
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