Dismasting at sea.
Documented dismasting incidents from the Logbook — 9 records, each with sources, lessons, and the SeaWise procedures that address it.
← Search & filter the full LogbookA rig over the side is both a loss of drive and an immediate hazard — a mast alongside can hole the hull it just fell from. The dismastings logged here show the priorities: secure or cut away the wreckage before it does more damage, protect the crew from the wire and spar under load, and get word out. What follows is a jury rig and a passage plan, not a panic.
A 74-year-old Canadian sailing solo from Hilo, Hawaii to Vancouver lost his mast and engine and injured his shoulder in a gale with roughly 30-foot seas about 489 nautical miles off Oregon. Too far out for a Coast Guard helicopter, his distress call — relayed through his satellite communicator — brought the cruise ship Silver Whisper, which diverted, came alongside in heavy swell, and took him off. His sailboat was left adrift.
Days after winning the 2026 Cape2Rio on handicap, the youth crew of Angel Wings was completely dismasted in a gale on the delivery home — over 25 knots of wind and 5-metre seas — and abandoned the yacht at 02:30 on 3 February 2026, about 1,448 km southeast of Rio. All three transferred unhurt to the freighter Bryant, and the South African Navy later landed them at Simon's Town. The yacht was lost.
On 26 May 2026, 489 miles off Oregon, the 29-foot Alice was dismasted and left with a dead engine in a gale while her 74-year-old skipper sailed alone from Hawaii to British Columbia. He hurt his shoulder but stayed in contact by handheld satellite messenger. The Coast Guard flew overwatch and the cruise ship Silver Whisper diverted 120 miles to lift him off.
Just after 1 pm on 5 June 2026, a sailboat ran onto the Plateau des Bœufs at the Roches du Devin, a rocky shoal west of Île de Noirmoutier in France. The grounding hit hard enough to snap the mast. All three people aboard were rescued.
Late on a Sunday night in August 2025, a sailing yacht carrying two French nationals was dismasted in 6-7 Beaufort winds between Syros and Mykonos, in the Greek Cyclades, and issued an SOS. The Hellenic Coast Guard responded with a Super Puma helicopter and a ferry. The crew chose to stay aboard and a tug took the yacht in tow; both sailors were landed safely at Naoussa, on Paros, unhurt.
On the night of 4–5 October 2025, the sailing yacht Magia lost her main mast and was left drifting with three people aboard between Anchieta and Vitória islands, off Ubatuba on Brazil's São Paulo coast. After they spent the night adrift, a Military Police helicopter located the boat the next morning and the three crew were rescued and brought ashore safely.
Around 2 November 2023, during a major European storm, a Norwegian-registered sailing yacht with a man aboard lost both masts in the open Atlantic far west of Cornwall and sent a distress call. British and French aircraft launched, and the RAF, with HM Coastguard, lifted the lone sailor to safety early that Friday. He was landed in England and treated for his injuries in what rescuers called one of their hardest missions.
On 4 January 2019, the yacht Kaerou was dismasted about 1,000 km from Réunion on passage between Australia and South Africa. The skipper alerted CROSS; a passing Cypriot bulk carrier, SAITA1, diverted and transferred about 300 litres of diesel and provisions some 343 nautical miles south of Réunion. The yacht motored on, and with SNSM help reached Réunion on 10 January — crew and boat both saved.
Forestay failure under reduced sail in 38 kt of wind; the crew of three cut the wreckage clear and made Brest under jury rig over three days.