Student sailor injured

Helicopter evacuation for unconcious sailor at BUSA Yachting Nationals - UPDATE

A serious incident occurred yesterday, Tuesday, at the BUSA Yachting Nationals being held at the Royal Southern Yacht Club. Information is still limited at this stage.

George Robinson, Sailing Secretary of the club, told TheDailySail this morning that he was “not aware of the condition of the sailor at present” and was waiting for the full incident report to be filed. It is understood that the sailor injured was the mainsheet trimmer on the University of Southampton One team.

TheDailySail spoke with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and they confirmed that a 22 year old was airlifted off during racing in the Western Solent. They added that their report detailed that the person at the time was unconscious with suspected head injuries after being struck by the boom. The casualty was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

An update, provided by the University of Southampton at 3pm today, was that casualty was in a stable condition and was expected to remain in hospital for another couple of days.

Racing is taking place on the Solent for the 31 teams entered in a fleet of Sunsail Sunfast 37 chartered yachts over the course of this week.

Conditions on the Solent yesterday were testing, with the weather deteriorating through the day with rain and gusts up to 30 knots.

All at TheDailySail express their best wishes for the sailor and family and friends.

More information is expected later.