A U.S. Marine Corps veteran participating in a round-the-world race is forced to risk getting stranded hundreds of miles off the coast of Argentina when his boat sustains severe damage and a storm heads toward him. I didn’t get it.
Ronnie Simpson, 38, activated the distress signal on Monday about 900 miles off the coast of Argentina in the South Atlantic Ocean after his boat had been washed ashore by waves the night before and landed particularly hard, snapping the boat’s mast.
Simpson uses a Starlink satellite connection from his boat. Instagram That morning, a “huge storm” was heading towards him. Wind speeds were “in excess of 50 knots” (57 miles per hour) and swells were “about 7 meters” (22 feet).
“When you’re on a boat without a mast, it’s like you don’t have stability,” he explains, adding that he doesn’t want to risk making sure his boat can withstand rough seas and avoid damaging it. He said it would be very difficult to repair.
Simpson contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and the Argentine Navy, which received the distress call, but it took several hours to find a ship close enough to rescue him.
Fortunately, as fears crept in that he might be trapped in the storm, a Taiwanese ship en route from South Africa to Argentina was able to change course and scoop him out of the water.
Just an hour before he was rescued, Simpson updated his followers again, telling them that the 750-foot Sakizaya Youth had come into view.
“I really, really didn’t want this race to end and I didn’t want this boat to end, but it is what it is,” Simpson said.
“Live to fight another day. Given the scenario, it’s the right decision. But that doesn’t make it any easier. It’s not bittersweet, it’s really just bitter.”
After waiting anxiously for 10 hours in grueling conditions, with the sun already setting, the Iraq war veteran turned professional race sailor was rescued.
“I’ve learned a lot during this campaign and race, and I’m excited and optimistic about what I can do with this hard-earned knowledge,” Simpson said in an Instagram post Wednesday about his boat’s final appearance. Sharing the view, he wrote: After being saved.
Before seeking help, Simpson was in third place in the Global Solo Challenge, a 26,000-mile round-the-world race that began off the coast of Galicia, Spain, on October 29 last year.
According to his records, he was the captain of the Open 50 Shipyard Brewing and was competing in the first-ever Global Solo Challenge. Website.
The estimated time to complete the race was about 130 days, and Simpson had circled Cape Horn off the coast of Chile 10 days earlier, reaching the home line.
“We feel sorry for Captain Ron. It has been painful for us to watch this unfold. We can only imagine the pain he must be feeling as he leaves the yacht where he has lived for the past 106 days. We have no choice but to do so,” Shipyard Brewing said in a statement. statement.
“This was a devastating event for Captain Ronnie, who had put his heart and soul into winning the Global Solo Challenge.”
Simpson is expected to return to land in Argentina within the next few days.
Although he was unable to complete the race due to circumstances beyond his control, his story of how sailing saved his life remains inspiring.
Simpson, a native of Hawaii, joined the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 18 and was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.
Just 19 years old, he was seriously injured by a nearby RPG explosion during the battle.
The explosion left him with severe burns, detached both of his retinas, and left him temporarily blind.
He was placed in a medically induced coma by combat medics and flown to Germany, only to wake up 18 days after arriving in Texas.
After a long recovery, he was honorably discharged and medically discharged from the Marine Corps.
But once Simpson entered civilian life, he suffered from PTSD from his time in combat.
Struggling to adapt to life outside the military and the trauma of war, he eventually discovered sailing and “believed in the inspirational and therapeutic effects of finding purpose through sailing,” according to his website. “I’m here.”
Since he began sailing, Simpson has sailed more than 140,000 miles and raised funds and awareness for US Patriot Sailing, a 501c3 veteran sailing nonprofit organization.
