D Friday, January 15, 2010 News We are grateful to have escaped with no major injuries and proud to have rallied together as team and sur- vived a harrowing ordeal and test of our resilience. The yacht, the Irish entry for the 56,000km Clipper Round the World Race, was skippered by Richie Fear- on, 29, from Derry, Northern Ireland. Falmouth Coastguard raised the alarm with international rescue serv- ices after being contacted by crew aboard Team Finland. A spokeswom- an for Falmouth Coastguard said: The crew had a lucky escape. You dont abandon ship unless you have to. The priority for the skipper is looking after the crew. Irish sailors in dramatic rescue as yacht hits reef AN IRISH sailor yesterday recounted the dramatic moments when he es- caped from a sinking yacht after it struck rocks in Indonesian waters. Sean Coote, 47, who lives in Eng- land, was on board the Cork Clipper with 15 others when it holed upon a submerged reef near Gosong Mam- pango island in the Java Sea. The eight Irish, five British, two Australian and one Chinese crew- members abandoned the stricken rac- ing yacht in life rafts and headed for nearby rocks. They then waited to be picked up by two of their fellow racing yachts the California Clipper and Team Finland. The Cork Clipper crew then braved the stormy seas once again to paddle out to the two rescue boats. Mr Coote said: After our evacua- tion and on reaching the island it was unreal to look back and see Cork on her side with waves breaking over the port beam. Our life raft was picked up approx- imately half an hour after leaving the island... Thoughts are now turning to contacting family and re-assuring them that we are OK. By Liam Creedon Mayday: The abandoned Cork Clipper lies on its side after a catastrophic rock strike in the Java Sea Irishman witnesses shark kill A SHOCKED Irishman witnessed the moment a man was killed in the jaws of a gigantic shark while on holiday in South Africa. Denis Lundon saw the swimmer being thrust chest-high out of the sea by the shark, thought to be a Great White. I jumped, waved my hat and roared and screamed at swimmers to get out of the water, he said. I never want to experience this again. Im going to block it out of my mind, he added. A horrified Twitter user tweeted as he too witnessed the attack. Gregg Coppen watched as Lloyd Skinner was savaged, tweeting: Holy s**t. We just saw a gigantic shark eat what looked like a person in front of our house... That shark was huge. Like dinosaur huge. Mr Coppen saw the attack from his home near Fish Hoek beach outside Cape Town during the height of the countrys tourist season. Victim Mr Skinner, from Harare, Zimbabwe, had been living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was on holiday in South Africa. His girlfriend, who also witnessed the attack, is being given trauma counselling. Mr Skinners body has not been recovered, despite an intensive search. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html