Celebrated Australian sailor Peter Warner, who won three won three Sydney Hobart Races in the 1960s, has died after his yacht capsized in rough seas off eastern Australia early yesterday (Tuesday 13 April).
The incident came amid warnings of dangerous swells that saw beaches closed along the New South Wales coast.
According to 9News, the 90-year-old’s boat rolled on the incoming tide at Ballina, around 120km south of the Gold Coast. The motion threw him overboard along with a teenager who was also on deck.
The 17-year-old boy managed to swim to shore with Warner, who sadly died at the scene.
Peter Warner was aged 17 himself when he fled from his wealthy family — who made their fortune in electronics manufacturing — for a life on the high seas.
His adventures included winning line honours in three editions of the Sydney Hobart Race in the early 1960s with his yacht Astor — and missing a fourth by only a minute.
But he is perhaps best known for discovering the Tongan castaways — six youths who absconded from their school in the Pacific Ocean kingdom and were stranded for a year on a deserted island.
9News has much more on the story HERE.