A Swiss sailor lost his little finger in a storm in South Africa and luckily ended up on the west coast of Australia. As Australian broadcaster ABC reported, the man’s finger got stuck in a spinnaker rope. Then he drifted away.
“I tried to save the spinnaker but lost it and part of my finger with it,” Ralph Bender said. He had an anesthetic with him and poured it on the wound. “I cut the rest off with scissors,” he told Australian broadcaster ABC. The bleeding stopped after about four days.
In the meantime, however, the boat drifted away because Bender could not use his hand. Eventually the mast almost fell down, the autopilot failed and the battery was dead. “I asked myself: what am I doing here? I could be at home with a cat on my lap and drinking coffee.”
Stranded in Bunbury
Calls for help had no effect at sea. On January 24, Bender finally made landfall in Bunbury, about 200 kilometers south of Perth, Australia, according to ABC. There he visited the local sailing club and is now waiting for his boat to be repaired. The Swiss, who left near Barcelona and originally wanted to go to Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean, has now met a surgeon. “He told me I did a good job,” he told the radio and television station.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
