2 sailor deaths result in muted celebrations on winning yacht in Sydney to Hobart race

Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney to Hobart line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital.

There were no such celebrations this year when defending champion LawConnect won the race in the early hours of Saturday morning, and with good reason: It came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race.

LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday. It had an elapsed time of 1 day, 13 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds, for the 628-nautical mile (722 miles, 1,160 kilometers) race that began Thursday in Sydney harbor.

Celestial V70 finished second, about 2 1/2 hours behind LawConnect, and Wild Thing 100 was third, about 25 minutes behind Celestial. Of the 104 starters, 29 had retired at sea or in port.

LawConnect crew member Tony Mutter said celebrations would be held privately out of respect of the two sailors who died. He said crew members were informed of the deaths on the morning of day two after a busy night battling the same stormy seas that caused the fatal accidents.

“I didn’t actually hear it on the first night. I heard it in the early hours of the next morning,” Mutter told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “We were pretty busy. We were 100% focused on the race. Our navigator knew, and he had to just pick the right moment to let us know.”

Mutter said the crew became “more somber” after being told about the deaths — “we were absolutely surprised and just felt for the other competitors.”

On Friday, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, which administers the yacht race, said that one sailor each on entrants Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline were killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.

Later the dead sailors were identified as Roy Quaden 55, from Western Australia state, a crew member on Flying Fish Arctos, and 65-year-old Nick Smith of South Australia, who was on Bowline.

New South Wales police said both yachts had been seized for evidence for a likely coroner's inquest. The Cruising Yacht Club said it would hold its own investigation.

Officials also said a sailor was washed overboard on another boat, but was rescued. That crew member was from Hobart yacht Porco Rosso, and he drifted a kilometer from the yacht before being rescued.

The incident triggered the crew member’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon, a safety device that must be worn by all sailors in the race.

“That is one of the most terrifying experiences that you can have,” said David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the CYCA. "(And) it was at night, which makes it tenfold more scary."

The deaths came 26 years after six sailors were killed in storms during the 1998 race, which initiated a state coronial inquest and mass reforms to the safety protocols — including the radio beacon on all sailors — that govern the race. There have been 13 fatalities in the 79-year history of the race, with four of those deaths resulting from sailor heart attacks.

The first all-Filipino crew of 15 sailors was entered in this year's race, but was among the retirements because of the weather. With veteran sailor Ernesto Echauz at the helm, Centennial 7 was one of six international entrants and includes sailors from the Philippines’ national team and the country's navy.

Grant Wharington, the Australian skipper of third-place Wild Thing 100 and a veteran around-the-world sailor, described the Hobart race as “testing and boat breaking."

“There’s some tragic things that have happened in the race this year," he said. "It makes you second-guess whether you should be doing it for yourself, for your own health, for your well-being, and for your family.

“At the end of the day, we challenge our own personalities and our bodies. We go and do these crazy things in life, and this is one of them, and we love it. I’ve done it 31 times. It holds great memories for me."

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Skipper of Philippines entry Centennial, Ernesto Echauz, center, gestures with his crew ahead of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

In this photo provided by Salty Dingo, Philippines entry Centennial sails towards the heads after the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

In this photo provided by Rolex, competitors sail towards the heads as they leave Sydney Harbour at the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex via AP)

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Vice Commodore David Jacobs, speaks to media following the deaths of two sailors during the Sydney Hobart yacht race at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Bowline sails out of the heads following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Paul Bramble/Rolex via AP)

Tony Mutter, left, skipper of Law Connect is presented with the Back Stay flag by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Vice Commodore David Jacobs, after winning line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

This image made from video provided by AUBC, CH9, CH7, CH9 shows sailing boat Flying Fish Arctos moored next to an ambulance at Jervis Bay, Australia, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AUBC, CH9, CH7, CH9 via AP)

Flying Fish Arctos sails out to sea following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex via AP)

Crew of Law Connect pose for a photo after winning line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

Law Connect sails down the Derwent River to win line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

Law Connect sails down the Derwent River to win line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams says a family of Spanish tourists, including three children, died Thursday in a helicopter crash in the Hudson River that killed six people.

Adams said all of the dead have been recovered and removed from the water.

The helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the river between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. It was the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the U.S., following other recent accidents in Washington and Philadelphia.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — A helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront Thursday, killing six people in the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the U.S., according to witnesses and a law enforcement official.

The New York Fire Department said it received a report of the crash at 3:17 p.m. All six people aboard were killed, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.

Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.

“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said in a phone interview.

Video posted to social media showed parts of the chopper splashing into the water, and the overturned aircraft was submerged, with rescue boats circling it.

The skies were overcast at the time, but visibility over the river was not substantially impaired. Rescue crews had to deal with 45-degree water temperatures.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government aviation, including by sightseeing companies, TV news stations and police departments. It was initially developed for the U.S. Army before being adapted for other uses. Thousands have been manufactured over the years.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate.

The rescue craft were near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side of the river. Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were on nearby streets with their lights flashing.

The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.

Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people.

A medical transport plane killed seven people when it plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January. That happened two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair in Washington — the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation.

The crashes and other close calls have left some people worried about the safety of flying.

First responders from New Jersey and New York respond to the scene where a helicopter crashed in the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In this photo taken from video, a helicopter falls from the sky into the Hudson River , Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (Bruce Wall via AP)

A crane vessel arrives at the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene Thursday, April 10, 2025, where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene Thursday, April 10, 2025, where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

First responders from New Jersey and New York respond to the scene where a helicopter crashed in the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

As seen from Pier 40 in New York, police and fire crews from New York and New Jersey respond to the scene Thursday, April 10, 2025, where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

First responders walk along Pier 40, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)

A New York Fire Department Marine 1 boat departs from Pier 40, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)

First responders walk along Pier 40, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz)