Tall ship sailor falls from rigJan 1, 2003
The tall ship celebrations that were carried out on both sides of the Atlantic this past summer were not without incident. A 21-year-old crewmember from the Polish vessel Pagoria fell 90 feet from the rig during the August transatlantic crossing. The vessel was eastbound south of Newfoundland when the young woman apparently lost her footing and fell.
"She was lucky to bounce off multiple parts of the rigging and then fall into a staysail and then onto a cabin top, thus slowing her fall to a point where trauma and hip injuries seem to be the limit," reported the captain of the Mystic Seaport schooner, which was taking part in the transatlantic event. (Brilliant won the informal race among the sailing ships.) "She remained conscious with her arrival on deck and apologized for any inconvenience she might cause."
The woman was airlifted from the vessel and transported to a hospital in St. John's. She was expected to fully recover, according to a spokesman at Mystic Seaport.