In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Air National Guard parajumpers, from the 129th Rescue Wing prepare medical supplies to be dropped from a Coast Guard aircraft to a 67-foot sailing yacht with three injured persons aboard, the Clipper Venture Six which is sponsored by Geraldton Western Australia, in the Round the World Yacht Race, Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Coast Guard's Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda, Calif. is coordinating the efforts to rescue the three injured persons 400 miles west of San Francisco. (AP Photo/Seaman David Flores, U.S. Coast Guard)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Air National Guard parajumpers, from the 129th Rescue Wing prepare medical supplies to be dropped from a Coast Guard aircraft to a 67-foot sailing yacht with three injured persons aboard, the Clipper Venture Six which is sponsored by Geraldton Western Australia, in the Round the World Yacht Race, Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Coast Guard's Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda, Calif. is coordinating the efforts to rescue the three injured persons 400 miles west of San Francisco. (AP Photo/Seaman David Flores, U.S. Coast Guard)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Air National Guard a Coast Guard drop master prepares to drop medical supplies to the Clipper Venture Six, a 67-foot sailing yacht, Saturday, March 31, 2012. The Rescue Coordination Center in Alameda, Calif. is coordinating the rescue efforts of three injured boaters. (AP Photo/Seaman David Flores, U.S. Coast Guard)
ALAMEDA, Calif (AP) ? A Coast Guard cutter returned to port Monday after rescuing two injured members of a racing crew whose yacht was smashed by a giant wave in the Pacific Ocean during an around-the world race.
The ship docked at Coast Guard Island in Alameda around 3 p.m. Monday, a day after it plucked two British crew members from the Geraldton Western Australia about 400 miles west of San Francisco.
Jane Hitchens, 50, and Nik Brbora, 29, slowly walked off the Coast Guard ship and waved to reporters before they were put on stretchers and taken to a hospital in separate ambulances.
Hitchens, a doctor from Kent, England, may have suffered broken ribs, while Brbora, a software engineer from London, may have suffered a sprained pelvis, race spokeswoman Dee-Dee Taft said. It was unclear whether they would be able to return to the race, when it resumes in less than two weeks.
The two crew members were hurt Sunday when a huge wave smashed over their 68-foot yacht's stern with such force that it carried away the boat's steering wheel and knocked the crew about like bowling pins.
The crew managed to quickly replace the steering wheel with a tiller and got the yacht under control by pulling down "the remains of our main sail" and raising a much smaller "storm jib," slowing the boat's progress considerably, captain Juan Coetzer told race organizers in comments posted online.
"The sea was alive with rage," Coetzer said. "Then at our watch change, just before the sun came up (Saturday), a monstrous foaming swell broke over our stern."
The wave pushed the helmsman Mark Burkes into the steering wheel and its pedestal in gale-force winds of more than 50 knots.
"The water had so much force in it that it pushed Mark into the helm, snapping the pedestal clean off," Coetzer reported. "We had no steering and crew were falling all over the boat."
After the Coast Guard removed the two injured members Sunday, the remaining 11 sailors decided to press on to finish the longest leg of the global race. They were expected to reach the Port of Oakland early Tuesday and become the last of 10 boats to complete a 5,680-mile trek across the Pacific.
"We were making good, good speed," Coetzer said of conditions before the accident, "surfing at 15 - 20 knots." The yacht is now traveling at about half that speed
Assistant race director Justin Taylor, a two-time skipper in the contest, said that crews "drill" for such an event as losing a steering wheel in heavy seas and that the repair took a matter of minutes.
"Their training kicked in," Taylor said.
Taylor said typically the hardest leg of the race is crossing the North Atlantic.
"To get this close to the finish is a tough one to swallow," Taylor said. "I'm disappointed for them."
The U.S. Coast Guard sent out a long-range HC-130 Hercules aircraft on Saturday for a rescue effort, but the rough seas and strong winds thwarted an attempt to lower rescuers. Instead, medical supplies were dropped on board and a cutter dispatched to meet the stricken vessel.
Two others who suffered minor injuries decided to continue sailing, Taft said. Max Wilson, 62, a farmer from Queensland, Australia, also may have suffered broken ribs, and Burkes, 47, the helmsman at the time, sustained a back injury.
The crew planned to fix the yacht and continue two more legs of the race, which began in Southhampton in England and will finish there July 22 after nearly a year at sea. The Geraldton Western Australia is among 10 identical yachts participating in the race. The nine other yachts made it in safely.
The first boat arrived Friday at Jack London Square in Oakland, Calif., where the entire fleet is expected to stay until April 14 to make repairs, restock, rest and take part in a sailboat show before embarking for Panama.
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