1.
Aerial View helicopter lower Sir Francis's son to British frigate PAN length of frigate
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Aerial View frigate standing off from yacht
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CU Reporter looks out window of aircraft
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Aerial View Gipsy Moth sailing with torn mizzen
0.35

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LV Sir Francis talking through megaphone TILT UP TO torn sail
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LV PAN FROM bow of ship to Gipsy Moth
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MV Giles Chichester and naval officer PAN TO Giles being lowered over side into dinghy and leaving side of ship (4 shots)
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Ground to Air Nimrod flying overhead
1.46

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Aerial View dinghy nearing Gipsy Moth (2 shots)
2.00



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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Veteran British yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester made a rendezvous with a British Naval frigate Saturday (1 July) and took on board his son and a naval officer for the return trip to Plymouth.

A French weather ship that had stood by Sir Francis's yacht Gipsy Moth Five collided with a trawler in the Bay of Biscay after it left the yacht's side. The weather ship also had a minor collision with Gipsy Moth damaging its mizzen mast.

After being lowered to the sea a launch took Giles Chichester from the frigate to join his father. With him were an officer and three sailors to help mend the damaged mast.

From the start it was stressed that this was not a rescue operation, and that Sir Francis would be taken off his yacht only if he requested it.

The seventy-year-old Six Francis had been competing in the single-handed transatlantic race before he dropped out after suffering hallucinations from taking a pain killing injection. Sir Francis had entered the race against his doctors orders.

SYNOPSIS:Much concern has been expressed for the condition of Sir Francis Chichester since the seventh-year-old British yachtsman was forced out of the single-banded transatlantic yacht race. His son giles was lowered aboard the British frigate, Salisbury, on Friday so that he would be on hand when the ship rendezvoused with Sir Francis's yacht, Gipsy Moth Five.

A Nimrod aircraft was at the scene monitoring the progress of Sir Francis and his yacht. The Gipsy Moth suffered a broken mizzen mast when a french weather ship closed to the yacht during the night..... In the morning, Sir Francis was on deck talking to the Salisbury through a megaphone. This has been his only means of communication since his radio went dead, causing his long silence....Sir Francis explained that he had dropped out of the single-handed race after suffering from hallucinations following an injection to ease his pain.

Giles Chichester was lowered into a launch from the frigate along with a naval officer and three sailors to help mend the damaged mast....From the start, it was stressed that this was not a rescue operation, and that Sir Francis would only be taken off his yacht if he requested it. Of the party in the launch, only Sir Francis's son and the naval officer were to stay aboard, the others would return to the Salisbury after the repairs had been completed.

Sir Francis has been reported in good condition. A Nimrod aircraft continues to patrol as the yacht now returns to Plymouth with Sir Francis, his son and the naval officer aborad. Plymouth is the same port that Sir Frencis left just two weeks ago on June 17.