Around-the-world sailor grateful for help

Sergei Zhukov breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted the Albany coastline last week.

After an encounter with a fishing trawler, hitting a whale and his engine breaking down, the Russian sailor limped into Albany last Thursday as part of an around-the-world venture on his 8m yacht Valkyria. The port city was a planned stop on his global venture, but the nature of his arrival was unexpected.

Princess Royal Sailing club members, including John Kagi and Colin Mundy, spent the following days assisting Mr Zhukov fix his vessel and gave him a place to stay.

Mr Kagi indicated the boat had seen better days having sailed through two oceans in six months.

“He just came in out of the blue from the Southern Ocean,” Mr Kagi said.

“He had no electricity, no wind charger and no electronic charts,”

Having left Moscow in August, Mr Zhukov was thankful for the help from the sailing club .

“People (here) very very good,” he said.