Wine and cheese party after daring rescue

By Suzanne McFadden

Isabelle Autissier, the yachtswoman with nine lives, was last night cooking pasta for her rescuer after an extraordinary 24 hours upside down in the freezing Southern Ocean.

The 42-year-old Frenchwoman was in good spirits after she was plucked from her capsized boat by close friend Italian Giovanni Soldini early yesterday.

Despite the terror of her ordeal, Autissier was asleep inside the hull of the capsized yacht when Soldini, a fellow solo sailor in the Around Alone race, came to her rescue.

He woke her by throwing a hammer at the hull.

"Of course I'm very sad about my boat. But to be alive is better," she said by satellite phone last night.

It was the second time in four years that Autissier, regarded as one of the world's top sailors, has had to be rescued during a solo round-the-world attempt.

Soldini was lauded as a hero around the world. A husband, and father of a 3-year-old daughter, he was concerned only for his friend's safety.

"I had some luck, because at one point I said to myself `Hell, what if I don't find her?'" he said.

The capsize happened when a huge wave hit the boat, and then, Autissier said, there was an autopilot error. The boat overturned, snapping the mast. The yacht was designed to right itself, but it could not because of the submerged sails and rigging.

It happened so quickly, Autissier said, that she had time only to close the hatch. She stayed inside and napped while Soldini battled howling winds and poor visibility to find her.

When he arrived at the position located by Autissier's distress beacons, there was no sign of the yacht. He then headed northwest for two miles and spotted the upturned hull. He sailed by twice, screaming out her name, but got no response.

On the third pass, he threw a hammer at the hull, and roused her. "I just didn't realise Giovanni would come so early," she said.

Autissier climbed out of the escape hatch in the yacht's transom, and jumped into her liferaft, still tied to the boat. It drifted downwind until Soldini threw her a line and hauled her on board.

Once on Soldini's yacht, Fila, Autissier called her boyfriend, family and shore crew in France, then had a "wine and cheese party."

Autissier and Soldini are used to each other's company. They crewed together in a double-handed race in Italy, and won.

Last night the pair were back on course, heading towards Cape Horn, and are due to finish leg three in Punta del Este on March 2. Autissier will not be able to help to sail the boat, but had offered to cook some meals for her friend.

Soldini will be given time compensation for his rescue efforts.

In a strange coincidence, eight years ago to the day, a solo sailor in the same race was rescued by a fellow competitor in the same area.

John Martin was picked up by fellow South African Bertie Reed after Martin's yacht hit an iceberg and started sinking. The pair sailed on to Punta del Este and finished one hour ahead of a yachtswoman by the name of Isabelle Autissier.

Pictured: Giovanni Soldini.