“Wizard was dismasted at 9h00 this morning Friday the 25th of July 2008.
The mast, sails and rigging was successfully detached from the rest of the yacht.
All crew on board are safe and without injuries. Wizard is now making way, toward Strega and Windflower, to load some spare diesel.”

Gerrie Boshoff, owner and skipper of the yacht Wizard sat down and sent the above email just after dark on Friday to inform us of the loss of his 27-meter mast. It must have been a very busy day for Gerrie and his crew, John Brownhill who had been on Wizard since the yacht left South Africa and Sasha Iovanovic who flew out from Australia to join them last Monday just before the start from Vanuatu. As well as the German yachts Strega and Windflower, Wizard later met up with Tallulah Ruby and Blueflyer who also passed over fuel to allow the dismasted yacht to motor the rest of the way to Australia. They also have plenty of food and water on board, now proceding at only 4 knots they are expecting to make landfall on 1 August.

The latest email from Gerrie read: “We do not need assistance with arrival, we are diesel and Yanmar dependent. As long as the they last, we will be fine All World ARC Skippers offered to supply me with diesel and whatever I require, just a great GROUP OF PEOPLE!!!!”