Bullimore
(MPEG Video 7.72 MB)
Almost eight years since a dramatic Southern
Ocean rescue, former members of HMAS Adelaide
have had the opportunity to catch up with a sailor
who almost lost his life.

FLASHBACK: Round the world yachtsman Tony Bullimore thanks CPO Peter Wicker for his rescue from the Southern Ocean in 1997.

Photo: Kerris Berrington The Sunday Times

At a charity function, former members of HMAS Adelaide’s crew presented Tony Bullimore with the hammer used to knock on the hull of his capsized ship, Exide Challenger in 1997.

By Rachel Irving

Almost eight years since a dramatic Southern Ocean rescue, former members of HMAS Adelaide have had the opportunity to catch up with a sailor who almost lost his life.

Lone English yachtsman Tony Bullimore was one of two sailors stranded 1300 nautical miles south west of Perth in January of 1997.

He and Frenchman Thierry Dubois had been taking part in the Vendee Globe singlehanded non-stop race around the world when they collided with a huge low pressure storm at 52 degrees South, capsizing both yachts.

HMAS Adelaide and RAAF P- 3 Orions were despatched to the Southern Ocean to find the men and on January 6 LEUT Hank Scott from HMAS Adelaide’s Seahawk helicopter (LEUT John May) plucked Dubois from his life raft and returned him to Adelaide.

On January 9, HMAS Adelaide circled Bullimore’s drifting yacht, the Exide Challenger and signalled with her horn.

There was no sign of life.

A RHIB approached the yacht’s hull and CPO Peter Wicker banged on the hull with a hammer, stunned to hear a faint reply.

Bullimore had sat in the freezing darkness for four days as the cabin of his yacht filled with water.

The air pocket that had kept him alive was fast disappearing and the water was up to his neck.

He was at his lowest when he heard the tapping on the hull and knew that he had been given the luckiest break of them all.

And so as the eight-year anniversary approaches, Bullimore came face to face with CPO Wicker and his rescuers earlier this month at a charity function in WA.

CPO Wicker presented Bullimore with the hammer used to knock on the hull.

The event raised more than $25,000 to set up Foodbank in the south-west region of WA.

.