Sailing: Magnificent Malle finds floundering Italians

IN WHAT was described as 'a magnificent piece of seamanship' the 11 crew of the stricken Italian yacht Brooksfield were found safe and well yesterday by Daniel Malle, skipper of the French yacht La Poste, writes Stuart Alexander from Fremantle. The French maxi is acting as escort, standing about one mile off, as both set off on the 1,800-mile trek to the second-leg finish here. Malle and Dennis Conner's Winston made a 150-mile dash through big seas and gale force winds to the point at 50 degrees south in the Indian Ocean at which the satellite navigation system had last sighted Brooksfield. La Poste took thirteen-and-a-half hours to cover the distance and they found the yacht safe at 00:20GMT after searching on a triangulated pattern. It had lost its rudder following delamination of the composite glass fibre structure, which had created a leak.