Two sailors die in Sydney to Hobart yacht race - ESPN

Two sailors on separate boats have been killed in boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the annual Sydney to Hobart race, adding to the event's long history of deaths at sea.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, which administers the yacht race, said Friday that one sailor each on entrants Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline was killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.

Officials later said a sailor was washed overboard on another boat but was rescued. That crew member was from Hobart yacht Porco Rosso, and he drifted a kilometer from the yacht before being rescued.

The incident triggered the crew member's emergency position-indicating radio beacon, a safety device that must be worn by all sailors in the race.

«That is one of the most terrifying experiences that you can have,» said David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the CYCA. "[And] it was at night, which makes it tenfold more scary."

The deaths come 26 years after six sailors were killed in storms during the 1998 running of the race, which triggered a state coronial inquest and mass reforms to the safety protocols — including the radio beacon on all sailors — that govern the race. There have been 13 fatalities in the 79-year history of the race, with four of those deaths resulting from sailor heart attacks.

The fleet was continuing its passage to Constitution Dock in Hobart, Tasmania, with the first boats expected to arrive later Friday or early Saturday morning. The race is 628 nautical miles (722 miles, 1,160 kilometers) long and the leading yachts were off Flinders Island on the north coast of Tasmania mid-morning Friday in Australia.

Jacobs reiterated the race would «absolutely» continue.