SYDNEY // An Irishman and a French woman on Thursday told of “waves the size of buildings” after being rescued from a terrifying ordeal when their yacht capsized in wild weather off Australia.
Nick Dwyer, 55, and Barbara Heftman, 44, were sailing from New Zealand to Sydney as part of a years-long circumnavigation of the globe when disaster struck.
Treacherous seas broke their rudder then rolled their 12-metre boat, forcing them to activate an emergency beacon on Tuesday.
A New South Wales police vessel responded, battling six-metre swells and gale force winds on a 13-hour voyage to reach the yacht and safely haul the pair on board.
“We encountered enormous seas, waves the size of buildings coming at you constantly, winds that you can’t stand up in, seas breaking, whiteness everywhere,” Mr Dwyer told reporters after abandoning ship and arriving in Sydney late on Wednesday.
“We weren’t sure whether we were going to be rolled again and each time a wave hit, we thought ‘is the one that’s going to take us?’
“It wasn’t really until the low (pressure system) hit us and we got capsized that we felt we really couldn’t survive this one without assistance.”
He added that it was the worst weather they had ever encountered on their decade-long global adventure, calling their rescuers “absolute heroes”.
Police Sergeant Paul Farquharson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the couple was overjoyed to see the rescue team.
“They’d been bobbing around on a 40-foot boat for the last four days and spent the last 10 years at sea so to hop on board our boat was a bit of a luxury for them,” he said.
* Agence France-Presse
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Rating: 5/5
The five pillars of Islam
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Maiden; Dh165,000; (Dirt) 1,200m
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8.15pm: Handicap; Dh185,000; (D) 2,000m
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Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Results
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Abdullah Abdullah 39.52 per cent
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 3.85 per cent
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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
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