Drifted to Australia: Swiss sailor has to amputate his finger after storm

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Swiss sailor Ralph Bender has had difficult days and weeks. He actually wanted to sail from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean to Easter Island. It started in October, but things turned out very differently than expected.

He was caught in a storm. His boat and sails were damaged. Unable to sail, he drifted from South Africa to Australia. He eventually landed on the west coast of Australia.

Finger cut off with scissors

The accident took place south of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Bender told Australian broadcaster ABC. During a storm his little finger became entangled in an eyelet of the spinnaker. “I tried to save the spinnaker, but lost it and with it part of my finger,” said the Swiss.

Bender almost fainted. He had a local anesthetic on board. He poured one or two bottles of it on the wound. He operated on himself. “I cut the rest off with scissors,” he said. On land he would have screamed for help. But if no one hears you, there’s no point, he said. ‘I asked myself: what am I doing here? I could be at home, have a cat on my lap and have a cup of coffee.”

Even more problems arise

He wrapped the wound with paper towels and tape until the makeshift bandage was soaked. “I lost consciousness there. I was lying on the floor with this red thing on my hand.”

The bleeding stopped after about four days. Meanwhile the boat had drifted away. Because he could not use his hand, he could not sail. Then even more problems arose: the mast almost fell down, the autopilot failed and the battery was empty. But Bender was able to prevent his hand from becoming infected. “After about two weeks I climbed the mast again,” he said.

On January 24, Bender made landfall in Bunbury, about 200 kilometers south of Perth, the ABC said. He did what sailors would do: he went to the local sailing club. There the Swiss met a surgeon. “He told me I was doing a good job,” Bender told the radio and television station.

Bender had actually left near Barcelona to reach Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. Now he is waiting in Bunbury for his sailboat to be repaired. (SDA/neo)

Source: Blick