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Pacific Vision Lost in Australia

As long-distance sailors like to point out to nervous landlubbers, it’s not the ocean that’s so dangerous, it’s the hard stuff around the edges. That axiom was proven true on July 3 by an unidentified couple sailing their sailboat, Pacific Vision, from San Diego to Bundaberg, Australia. The pair had made a successful passage but reportedly ran into trouble in the early morning hours when their mainsail tore. Finding themselves being pushed toward Llewellyn Reef about 90 miles off Gladstone on the east coast of the Oz, the 45-year-old Australian man and 30-year-old Canadian woman did what they could to avoid grounding on the reef but failed. They took to a liferaft when the boat started breaking up. Alerted by the boat’s EPIRB, a RACQ Capricorn helo arrived on scene around 7:20 a.m. The couple, who had drifted about a mile from their grounded boat, shot off flares and, in short order, were hoisted aboard the helo in good health. At last word, Pacific Vision was still on the reef.

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