{"id":496135,"date":"2026-02-22T05:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T05:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/496135\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T05:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T05:18:20","slug":"multiple-sailors-rescued-as-boats-capsize-in-dangerous-river-derwent-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/496135\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiple sailors rescued as boats capsize in dangerous River Derwent race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple sailors have been rescued in a dramatic operation after multiple boats capsized in dangerous conditions during a race on the River Derwent this afternoon.<\/p>\n

The drama unfolded around 1:20pm when strong winds hit the water off Long Beach at Sandy Bay.<\/p>\n

Several small racing boats capsized, throwing participants into the choppy conditions.<\/p>\n

Emergency services deployed marine rescue units and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to the scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"Multiple yachts capsized and sailors were rescued from the water after a strong wind gust. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Bystander boats also rushed to help with the rescue effort, as dozens of beachgoers watched on.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed shortly after 3pm that everyone involved had been accounted for and assessed by paramedics, with no injuries reported.<\/p>\n

\"\"Multiple yachts capsized and sailors were rescued from the water after a strong wind gust. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

\u201cAll participants involved in the race and subsequent marine rescue on the River Derwent have now been accounted for,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n

Lisa Pilkington was in the water at Sandy Bay Beach when conditions deteriorated rapidly, witnessing things go from bad to worse for the sailors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really picking up and it wasn\u2019t just that, it\u2019s the direction of the wind, there\u2019s no going against it,\u201d she told Pulse.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy board flipped and then I just took it in on the cove and just waited. Then I\u2019m sitting there watching and it just got worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Multiple yachts capsized and sailors were rescued from the water after a strong wind gust. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Pilkington said she saw a kiteboarder get launched into the air by powerful gusts.<\/p>\n

Data from the Bureau of Meteorology showed wind gusts reached 95 kilometres per hour at Hobart at 1:19pm, with sustained northwesterly winds of 41 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n

\"\"Multiple yachts capsized and sailors were rescued from the water after a strong wind gust. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Pilkington said conditions changed without warning after she entered the water around 12:30pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather didn\u2019t tell us it was going to turn to 89 kilometres an hour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Multiple yachts capsized and sailors were rescued from the water after a strong wind gust. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

Police say they worked with race organisers to account for all participants as they were brought ashore.<\/p>\n

Aerial and marine resources continued searching the area as a precaution after all sailors were confirmed safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple sailors have been rescued in a dramatic operation after multiple boats capsized in dangerous conditions during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-496135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}