Sarah Young, the British sailor who died after being swept overboard during a round the world yacht race, has been buried at sea – with all 12 competing teams holding a minute’s silence on their boats to mark the moment.
On her boat, the 70ft IchorCoal, the ceremony was conducted by her former crewmates, with readings including the poem Sea Fever by John Masefield, with the lines: “And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying / And the flung spray and the blown spume and the seagulls crying.”
The skipper, Darren Ladd, said in a ship-to-shore message: “Everyone played their part and the ceremony passed with all the dignity as we could muster.”
The organisers of the Clipper round the world yacht race tweeted their tributes after the ceremony.
The organisers said that since both her parents were dead and she had no siblings, they had been in touch with her elderly aunt in New Zealand, who had given the ceremony at sea her blessing.
The decision to conduct a burial at sea was taken after consulting medical advisers and the Maritime Coastguard Agency because it would take so long for the yacht to reach the closest landfall, on her route from China to Seattle, through the Pacific.
RIP Sarah Young - laid to rest in #PacificOcean #ClipperRace - our thoughts are with crew, partner, friends and family
— The Clipper Race (@ClipperRace) April 3, 2016
Young, a company owner, was an experienced amateur sailor. An investigation continues into why she was apparently not attached to a safety line when she was washed overboard by a large wave on Friday afternoon while tidying the cockpit after reefing in the mainsail in rough weather.
She was washed under the guardrail and into the sea, and although the crew managed to recover her body she never regained consciousness.
Tributes came in from past and present crew members and friends. Crew member Elliotte Ashcroft wrote on Facebook: “Thoughts and prayers and much love and support go out to the onboard crew, Daz, Sarahs family and all who knew this witty, ballsy, caring lady.”
Louise Thomas, a friend and former teammate, wrote: “My boat wife, my best buddy has been taken away from me today and I’m absolutely heartbroken and devastated.”
Peter Thornton, skipper of the Great Britain, another of the competing yachts, wrote: “Extremely sad news about Sarah and we are all quite shocked and suddenly acutely aware of where and what we are in this world.”
