Sir Ben Ainslie rescued after yacht experienced mechanical problems in Caribbean
The Olympic sailor was recently on his honeymoon after marrying Georgie Thompson a few weeks ago
Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie had to be rescued during his honeymoon after his yacht Rita
experienced mechanical problems in the Caribbean.
Ainslie and his wife Georgie Thompson had been sailing past Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island when the furling system broke on the main sail.
After calling for help, three of Branson’s watersports team attended the gold-medallist to find the sail twisted and unable to go up, down, in or out.
Writing on his Virgin blog, Branson said: “The only way to avoid going onto the reefs was for Marco to go to the top to cut the sail to pieces, whilst George and Ben were winching Marco up and down and Georgie helping in the boat.
“Unsurprisingly Ben kept an amazingly cool head whilst directing operations – he just needed more hands to sort out the mess.
“Together, the team helped to stop the boat from wrecking on the Moskito reef. With no harm done, Ben was able to see the funny side – after all, stranger things have happened at sea.”
The newlyweds stayed on Necker Island for a few days before returning to the UK where Ainslie is due to make an appearance at the London Boat Show on Wednesday.
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Images: Facebook/Jack Brockway