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The 115 year-old  International 12 Metre Class  encompasses a living history of racing yacht design by the world’s foremost naval architects including Olin Stephens, Clinton Crane, William Fife III, Philip Rhodes, Johan Anker, Ben Lexcen and more who pushed their designs to the very limits of innovation. The resulting boats represented the pinnacle of yacht development from 1907-1987 for the highest levels of international sailing competition– the Olympic Games (1908-1920) and the America’s Cup (1958-1987).

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12 Meter Yacht Charters

Review Highlights

“ Capt Kevin is a knowledgeable, friendly slipper with local lore for all. ” in 4 reviews

“ The crew was wonderfully engaging and had a vast knowledge of the boat, America's Cup race and Newport. ” in 12 reviews

“ If you have a lot of wind, you can expect to get a little wet . ” in 2 reviews

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12 Bowen's Wharf

Newport, RI 02840

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12 Meter Charters _.

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12 Meter Charters - Newport, RI Sail aboard legendary America's Cup yachts in Newport, RI! Our beautiful 70-foot yachts are available for charters and ticketed sails. Two-hour public cruises offered daily. Customized charters include Corporate Outings, Private Parties, Team-building, Wedding Events, Sunset Sails and Racing Regattas. Participate in the sailing or just sit back and enjoy. …

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Capt Kevin and Monica gave us a wonderful ride... even in almost none existent winds!!! Monica is extremely accommodating and helped with planning and launch logistics for a wonderful surprise bday sail! Capt Kevin is a knowledgeable, friendly slipper with local lore for all. Best day ever. Would definitely go on a chartered sail with them in a heartbeat.

See all photos from Sandra B. for 12 Meter Yacht Charters

It was an absolute privilege to sail on a boat that won an America's Cup. The captain and crew were great. I'd absolutely do this again. From the reviews, it seems people fall into one of two camps: folks with at least some understanding of sailing, who knew what to expect and simply loved this; and folks who didn't know what sailing is about and came in with the misguided expectation of a leisure cruise on a floating lounge chair. These boats were built to go as fast as the wind allows, and the passengers and crew permit. In my opinion, this is a fun activity for adults and kids.

Very frustrating experience ! We booked a sail yesterday with 12 meter yacht charters. The sail was scheduled to depart at 5pm. We received a call at 4:15 letting us know the trip was cancelled due to lack of enough people booking the trip. While it was in their terms and conditions that the boat trip could be cancelled, to call us 45" before our trip while we were on our way to the dock was very unprofessional. We understand that weather and lack of participation are issues , but particularly with something like the number of people booking, it would have been more professional for them to give us more notice. Even just an hour and a half before would have prevented us from driving to the dock, but the last minute call resulted in us having to head back to our hotel and redo all our plans for the evening. Thankfully, we ended up booking a fabulous boat trip viewing fireworks on the harbor with a company that didn't cancel on us at the last minute. Highly recommend going on a fireworks boat cruise with any another company, or perhaps a day sail with a different company.

I had taken my boyfriend to Newport to celebrate his birthday and unfortunately we had a very unpleasant experience with our sail/helicopter tour. First it started out with having to rebook our helicopter tour due to a funeral service. Understandably so, I was happy to move our tour from the original 11am slot to a 6pm slot. I can understand the circumstances however I do not understand how you can operate with only one pilot for these reasons. Secondly, our sail was terrifying and unpleasant. I'm not sure if the weather conditions were not up to par but if so we should have been warned and offered the opportunity to cancel. The sail boat was sideways about 75% of the time making it extremely uncomfortable sitting/holding on the whole time. We were sitting upfront of the boat and were told we may need to duck when the sail moves however we could never hear the captain tell us to duck. We also got completely soaked... and I do understand that is a possibility being on a boat however i was drenched , wearing white, and not one staff member offered a poncho or cover up... and probably because the sailing weather was not appropriate and the boat was sideways the whole time making it impossible for anyone to walk over to check on us. We were told to bring drinks as if it was going to be a nice leisure trip- with how much we had to lay down/ duck/ swap sides it was quite impossible to hold a drink while trying to hold ourselves up. Due to the fact we were completely soaked and sore from laying down and sitting sideways holding ourselves up, it ruined the rest of our day in Newport as we could not do anything else looking / feeling the way we did. Lastly, we did receive a call as soon as we got off our boat that the weather conditions weren't great for flying and had to cancel our helicopter tour as well. I've tried calling multiple times and their mailbox is conveniently full, as well as send emails in which they have yet to respond to... ridiculous customer service..

My boyfriend and I love sailing on Nefertiti whenever we come visit Newport! Captain Maddie Parker is an excellent host and treats us like family! She is knowledgeable of the buildings and historical information along our path, which is different every time! Seeing the crew work together really highlights the complexity of the sport and the grace of leadership.

Fantastic! If you are looking for a Cocktail Cruise or a Romantic Boat Ride this IS NOT for you. If you are looking for a wicked awesome Sailing Adventure ThIS IS FOR YOU! My family and I really enjoyed our sail today, friendly, professional crew (Kevin, Nate, Liz); well maintained historical America's Cup Sailboat; and beautiful weather! Sailing on Columbia was simply amazing, a dream come true. Our daughters first sailing experience and she really had a lot of fun! We look forward to doing this again next summer! Highly Recommend!

See all photos from Jay E. for 12 Meter Yacht Charters

We sailed at 5:30 with captain Nora. We loved it. She was great. Her crew was great. I sailed a 12 meter boat. Everything I hoped for. They were very informative about both the boat and the surrounding sites. If you get a chance this is a fun excursion.

Our bachelor party did the wine and dine package and it was phenomenal! The crew and staff were so fun, friendly, and knowledgeable. They even took care of our cooler of beer and brought it out to us when we could start drinking (outside of the harbor). We all (8 guys) highly, highly recommend it. It was the highlight of our weekend and probably one of the more memorable times together.

If you want the Real 12 experience this is it! It is not cheep but worth it! Great history of the boats, great crew, and wonderful time!!

We literally could not have has a better time! Meredith and the entire crew were AMAZING. The sailboat was gorgeous and the actual sail was just beautiful. Can't wait to do it again!

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Reminiscing “Freedom”: a 12 Metre Classic

• By Herb McCormick
• January 2, 2024

Forty years ago this past September, in the waters of Rhode Island Sound just off the coastal city of Newport, a crew of Aussies shocked the sailing world. The 12 Metre Australia II defeated the American boat Liberty to win the 1983 America’s Cup and bring the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year defense of the Auld Mug to a conclusion. It’s safe to say the Cup, and my hometown of Newport, have never been the same.

I spent a lot of time on the sound that summer taking in the action, so when I signed up to volunteer on a marshal boat for the latest edition of the 12 Metre World Championship regatta in August, I found myself on the very same waters, which turned into a pretty nostalgic voyage down a nautical memory lane. But the graceful Twelve I couldn’t take my eyes off wasn’t the winner of the Modern Division, Challenge XII , or even the victor of the Traditional/Vintage Division, Columbia . Nope, I was more or less transfixed on the runner-up to Challenge XII , a striking-blue yacht called Freedom . Of all the entries in the 10-boat fleet, to me, Freedom was easily the most historic and memorable.

Three years before the Australians absconded with the Cup, in 1980, with the estimable Dennis Conner in command, Freedom won the contest in dominant fashion, and it seemed like the New York Yacht Club’s winning streak would go on forever. It was designed by the legendary naval architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens, which had drawn the lines of every Cup winner but one since 1936. Conner was back on the helm in the losing effort in ’83, but he would find redemption, winning the Cup back for the United States in Western Australia in 1987. But for S&S, Freedom marked the end of an illustrious era. The firm would never again create a Cup winner.

For the 12 Metre Worlds, ironically enough, the navigator aboard Freedom was a lanky old Aussie mate of mine called Grant Simmer, who’d served in the same capacity aboard Australia II for his country’s winning effort way back when. With the exception of the gray hair, he looked exactly the same.

This time, however, Simmer couldn’t work his magic. Unlike the America’s Cup, where boats compete in one-on-one match racing, the World Championship event is fleet racing, with everyone out on the track at the same time. It’s a different game. And Challenge XII had a ringer of its own: the president of North Sails, Ken Read, also a longtime America’s Cup veteran. As far as I was concerned, Freedom was easily the prettiest of all the Modern yachts. When push came to shove, though, it was no longer the fastest.

Today’s America’s Cup competition, conducted on closed-course race tracks in skittish foiling catamarans—about as far removed as possible from a stately 12 Metre racing in the open ocean—bears little resemblance to what the event looked like in the early 1980s. And Newport has undergone a radical makeover as well. The shipyards where the Cup boats used to reside between races have been replaced by condos and hotels, and the only real remaining trace of the America’s Cup is the boulevard of the same name. It’s a reminder that the only true constant in life is change.

But for a few afternoons last August, I could shut my eyes for a moment of reminiscence and open them up to see what I can only describe as a fleeting image of a bygone time. Freedom may be a footnote in the history of yacht racing, but the big, beautiful blue boat still looks powerful and fantastic all the same.

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Morgan Stanley International chair among 6 missing after luxury yacht sinks in Sicily

By jenni reid,cnbc • published august 20, 2024 • updated 1 hour ago.

• The chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, is among those missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily on Monday, Sicily's civil protection agency said.
• British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were also missing, as search and rescue efforts resumed Tuesday.
• The 56-meter sailing boat "Bayesian" was hit by a violent storm around 4 a.m. local time on Monday, as it carried 10 crew members and 12 passengers on board.

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The chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and four others are missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily.

Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah, Bloomer's wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda were missing as difficult search and rescue efforts resumed on Tuesday.

One person, the ship's cook, was confirmed by the Italian coastguard to have died. Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 people who were rescued.

Bloomer is chair of Morgan Stanley International, the London-based branch of the investment banking giant, a non-executive role he has held since 2016. He is also the chair of insurance firm Hiscox.

Aki Hussain, group chief executive officer of Hiscox, said Bloomer and his wife Judy were both among those missing.

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"We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event," Hussain said in a statement. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular the Bloomer family, as we all wait for further news from this terrible situation."

Morvillo is a partner at Clifford Chance based in New York, and recently represented Lynch in a landmark trial over allegations made against him by  Hewlett Packard . Lynch was acquitted in June.

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A Clifford Chance spokesperson said: "We are in shock and deeply saddened by this tragic incident ... Our utmost priority is providing support to the family as well as our colleague Ayla Ronald, who together with her partner, thankfully survived the incident. Our thoughts extend to the other passengers and crew and all those affected."

‘Britain’s Bill Gates’: Who is Mike Lynch, the UK tech entrepreneur missing after superyacht sinks?

The 56-meter sailing yacht "Bayesian" was hit by a violent storm around 4 a.m. local time on Monday, as it carried 10 crew members and 12 passengers on board. The anchored vessel capsized near the port of Porticello, with witnesses telling local media that the boat descended rapidly after its mast broke.

In a statement Tuesday, Italian emergency services said divers had accessed the inside of the wreck of the ship on Monday evening. Operations were complicated because of obstacles and narrow access points, they said, adding it was not possible to verify the presence of the missing individuals through cabin portholes.

Operations are now being planned to open access points to the cabins.

Renato Schifani, president of the region of Sicily, on Monday visited the children's hospital in Palermo in Italy to see a British one-year-old girl and her parents who were all rescued from the ship.

"My thoughts go to all the people involved and their families, but today we are also here to testify that the solidarity and commitment of our health workers and Civil Protection volunteers are a precious resource for our community," Schifani said in a statement, according to a Google translation.

Many of those on board were employees and associates of Lynch, the 59-year-old founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy.

Lynch was embroiled in a protracted legal battle  with  Hewlett Packard  after the U.S. tech giant accused him of inflating Autonomy's value in an $11 billion sale. He was extradited from Britain to the U.S.  last year to stand trial over the HP allegations.

Lynch was acquitted of fraud charges  after a three-month trial. The boat trip was a celebration of Lynch's acquittal, according to various media reports.

Stephen Chamberlain, Autonomy's former vice president of finance and Lynch's co-defendant in the trial who was also acquitted, reportedly died after being hit by a car while jogging in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.

"Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family," his lawyer said in a statement to the BBC.

— CNBC's Ryan Browne contributed to this story.

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What is known about the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily and those aboard

Italy boaters missing.

PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — Specialist cave divers working in 12-minute underwater shifts were searching Tuesday for six missing passengers and crew, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, believed to be in the submerged wreck of a luxury yacht that was slammed by a powerful storm and swiftly sank off Sicily.

The sleek yacht, named the Bayesian, was carrying a crew of 10 people and 12 passengers when it suddenly sank near the Mediterranean island that is part of Italy at about 4 a.m. on Monday. One body has been recovered and 15 people survived.

Fire rescue officials have said the six believed to remain in the sailboat's hull will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage.

Here's what we know so far about the sinking and those who were on board.

What happened?

Italian civil protection officials believe a sudden and fierce storm that battered the coast of Sicily in the early hours of Monday whipped up a waterspout in the exact spot where the 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian was moored.

Karsten Borner, the captain of another yacht moored nearby, said he saw the Bayesian during the storm but when the wild weather passed it was gone and he saw only a red flare lighting the night sky, ANSA and the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper reported.

Borner and one of his crew boarded their tender and found a lifeboat carrying 15 people, some of them injured. They took them aboard their yacht and alerted the coast guard.

Rescue authorities said the wreck was resting at a depth of 50 meters (163 feet) about a half mile offshore of the picturesque fishing village of Porticello.

Who was on board?

Among the missing is 59-year-old tech tycoon Mike Lynch , sometimes described as the British Bill Gates. Lynch was acquitted in June of all charges in a U.S. fraud trial linked to the $11 billion sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

Lynch still faced a potentially huge bill stemming from a civil case in London that HP mostly won during 2022. Damages haven’t been determined in that case, but HP is seeking $4 billion. Lynch made more than $800 million from the Autonomy sale.

A Cambridge-educated mathematician, Lynch made his name running Autonomy, which made a search engine that could pore through emails and other internal business documents to help companies find vital information more quickly.

Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah was reportedly among the missing. His wife, Angela Bacares, and 14 other people survived.

Among others still missing Tuesday, according to the civil protection agency, were one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, Christopher Morvillo of Clifford Chance, and Morvillo’s wife. Morvillo was regarded as an elite defense lawyer and was also a federal prosecutor in New York after 9/11.

Also missing was Jonathan Bloomer, the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and his wife, Judy. He is the former head of the Autonomy audit committee and testified for the defense at Lynch’s trial.

Bloomer was also chair of the Hiscox Group, an insurer that does business on the Lloyd’s of London market.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event,” Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation.”

Among the survivors was Charlotte Golunski, who said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to grab her and hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived.

The Dutch foreign ministry said a Dutch man survived. The ministry, citing privacy, did not release his identity.

One body was recovered on Monday, identified as the on-board chef.

What is the Bayesian?

The Bayesian was a luxury yacht built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Nav. It was known for its single 75-meter (246-feet) aluminum mast — one of the world’s tallest. Online charter sites listed it for rent for up to 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week.

Its registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd., based on the Isle of Man, according to online maritime database Equasis. Lynch’s wife is listed as Revtom’s sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.

The yacht's name is an apparent reference to “Bayesian inference,” one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning and the one that was used by Autonomy.

What is a waterspout?

Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water and can happen when a storm moves across warm water.

According to the U.S. National Ocean Service, there are two types of waterspouts — fair-weather and tornadic.

Tornadic waterspouts “have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning,” the service says on its website.

While scientists haven’t attributed the specific event to climate change, average monthly surface temperatures have been at record highs for months . Hotter air can hold more moisture, making heavier storms more likely.

Sicily has been baking under intense heat this summer , and the United Nations’ panel of climate change experts notes the Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with warming rates roughly 20% higher than the global average.

What happens next?

As the search for the missing continues, authorities already have begun trying to piece together exactly what happened.

Prosecutors from the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation, as is normal in such events even when no suspects are identified. To date they have not commented publicly.

The British Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four of its inspectors were being deployed to Palermo.

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

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Exciting Ida Lewis Distance Race a chance for veterans and new skippers to perform over 24 hours of distance

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Over the weekend, over forty racing teams took part in the 2024 Ida Lewis Distance Race presented by Bluenose Yacht Sales. Over the course of a straight 24 hours, race participants started out south of Pell Bridge in Narragansett Bay’s East Passage on Saturday, Aug. 16, along picturesque vantage points of Jamestown and Newport shorelines, Fort Adams and Castle Hill. Their route took them through Rhode Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, Vineyard Sound, Long Island Sound and the waters south of western Long Island before they returned back to the home point of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club (ILYC) in Newport, R.I late Sunday morning, Aug. 17. It was a course determined by the Ida Lewis Race Course Development Team, with routes ranging from 115-135 nautical miles, depending on the class. A good wind insured a successful race.

Spending 24 hours at sea certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. It was an exciting experience for the mix of veterans and newcomers who took to sea for the club’s 18 th edition. I spoke with one set of parents who had proudly cheered on their young son who had raced over the weekend. It was fun chatting with them on how he took to sailing, having developed a passion for the sport after being signed up for a couple of sailing camps in the area. He didn’t come from a sailing family who had been doing this for generations, and that was one of the points that Event Chair Anselm Richards made during the celebration dinner at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club on Saturday evening.

“It’s really important to expand the sailing community,” said Bluenose Yacht’s Glenn Walters during the trophy presentation ceremony. He pointed out the significant number of sailors 25 years old and younger as well as women sailors who took part this year. “They are the future of the sport. They’re the future of what we love and the passion that we have [for the sport].”

It was fun watching the separate class races from the media boat, Patrick Kennedy’s yacht that reminded me of Quint’s shark chaser from Jaws . When I came on board, I couldn’t help blurting out, “we’re gonna need a bigger boat” (I had just seen the screening of the movie at the Jane Pickens Theater a few weeks prior so pardon me for being corny). Unlike Quint’s Orca II boat, Kennedy’s had a super cute disco ball inside the quarters and a much more expansive upper deck, which was my go-to perch for photographing. I was also proud that I didn’t get seasick, the last time I was that high in a boat, this was not the case. But thanks to some very smooth driving and favorable weather, it was a much improved experience this time around.

The race itself—with each race demarcated by starting cannons—was exciting and complimented by a favorable wind that ushered each of the class yachts out to open sea. Participating teams included ORC (classes1, 2, and 3) or PHRF (classes Aloha, Coronet, Bagheera, and Double handed). Winners included:

ORC 1 (A/P Single ToT)

• Victor Wild’s FOX
• David Greenstein’s Space Monkey
• David Team’s Vesper 52

ORC 2 (A/P Single ToT)

• Paul Zabetakis’ Impetuous
• James Coffman / Laura Heiss’ Gemini II
• Leo Vasiliev’s Peacemaker

ORC 3 (A/P Single ToT)

• Edward Kaye’s Pravda
• John Brim’s Rima98
• Brad Gibbs’ Rumble

PHRF Double Handed

• Carl L.C. Kah III ‘s Privateer
• Gregory Manning’s Goat Rodeo
• Chris Benzak’s Low Profile
• Richard Moody’s Boudicca
• Beau Van Metre’s Running Tide
• David Rosow’s Loki
• John Pearson’s Red Sky 4
• Jeff Johnstone’s AGENT 99
• David Schwartz’s Mischief
• Jeffrey Wilson’s Tacktile

The next ILYC regatta, the Newport Classic Yacht Regatta, takes place starting Aug. 31.

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At Least 1 Dead and 6 Missing After Yacht Sinks Off Sicily

Fifteen other people were rescued. Expert divers were called in to carry out search operations in the deep water. Among the missing was a British software mogul, Mike Lynch.

By Elisabetta Povoledo

At least one person was killed and six others, including a British software mogul, were missing on Monday after a sailing yacht carrying 22 people sank during a violent storm off the coast of Sicily, Italian officials said.

The yacht sank after a storm “with strong winds” struck around 5 a.m., according to Luciano Pischedda, the Italian Coast Guard official overseeing the rescue operations. The vessel had been anchored about a half-mile off Porticello, about 12 miles east of the Sicilian capital, Palermo.

Camper & Nicholsons, managers of the sailing yacht, said in an emailed statement that there were 12 guests and 10 crew onboard.

The authorities have yet to determine what caused the yacht to sink. “This will be ascertained later,” Mr. Pischedda said, adding that several crew members were in the hospital and had not spoken to investigators.

Among the dead and missing, four were British, two were American, and one was a man with dual citizenship from Canada and Antigua, he said.

One of those unaccounted for is Mike Lynch, a British software mogul who was acquitted in the United States in June of fraud, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

His wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued. Mr. Lynch, who once was described as Britain’s Bill Gates, had fought for more than a decade against accusations that he had defrauded Hewlett-Packard when he sold it his company, Autonomy, for $11 billion. The legal battle represented one of the biggest fraud cases in Silicon Valley history.

Salvatore Cocina, a top official with Sicily’s civil protection agency, said that Mr. Lynch’s daughter, Hannah Lynch, was also among the six people missing. All were passengers on the yacht, the Coast Guard said.

Mr. Cocina said the body that had been recovered was that of the yacht’s cook.

A passenger ship sailing under the flag of the Netherlands, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, anchored nearby, provided immediate assistance to the 15 surviving passengers, Mr. Pischedda said.

Karsten Börner, the captain of the Sir Robert, said in a telephone interview that he’d had to steady his ship to “keep it in position” during what he described as very strong winds. During the storm, the yacht seemed to disappear, he said. “At a certain moment she was gone behind us,” he said.

After the wind dropped down, “we couldn’t see the yacht any more, and then we saw a red flare,” he added. When he and a colleague went to check out the flare’s position, they spotted a “life raft adrift with 15 people on board, one of them a baby and four people injured,” he said. They were taken aboard the Sir Robert and Captain Börner contacted the Coast Guard, which brought the survivors to shore.

Captain Börner said he didn’t know when the ship went down because the storm made it difficult to see clearly. The wind was “really violent,” he said.

For the most part, the survivors didn’t speak much he said. “They were all under shock,” he said. “It was a bad, bad situation.”

Monday’s storm surprised experts with its intensity.

Col. Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said the agency had registered intense lightning activity and strong gusts of wind in the area at the time of the accident.

“It was very intense and brief in duration,” he said of the storm. He could not rule out that it had been a waterspout, or small tornado, but nevertheless called it “an important event.”

Italy’s firefighter corps said that its divers had started carrying out a search and rescue mission at dawn.

On Monday afternoon, expert divers with the firefighter corps arrived in Porticello to search the sunken vessel, which was under about 165 feet of water.

Operations at that depth, were “complicated,” and required specialized divers, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the firefighters.

Fabio Cefalù, a fisherman in Porticello, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that he saw a waterspout — a sort of mini-tornado — that lasted “about 12 minutes” off the shore of Porticello shortly before 4 a.m.

Around 4:10, he said he saw a red flare go off “about 500 meters from the shore.” He said he waited for the weather to calm down, and went out about 20 minutes later to the site where the flare had gone off.

“We found only the cushions, and a few planks” floating in the water, he told the newspaper. There was no sign of the ship, and he immediately called the coast guard.

The boat, identified by Italian officials as the Bayesian, is an Italian-made 56-meter-long sailing yacht first launched in 2008, according to the website marinetraffic.com , which tracks ships. It sails under the flag of Britain, and was built by Perini Navi, an Italian luxury yacht maker.

Eight of the 15 passengers who were rescued were taken to hospitals in Palermo, the coast guard said. Camper & Nicholsons, the managers of the yacht, said its priority was to “provide all necessary support to the rescued passengers and crew.”

Giuseppe D’Agostino, the mayor of Santa Flavia, which includes Porticello, said the survivors would be cared for at a local hotel. The city had also brought them immediate necessities, like toiletries and clothes.

He said in a telephone interview that he had not spoken to the survivors since “they’re in shock.”

The youngest passenger onboard, a 1-year-old girl named Sophie, was taken to the Di Cristina hospital in Palermo with her mother, Charlotte, who had some scrapes and cuts, said Domenico Cipolla, director of the pediatric emergency room at the hospital.

Sophie’s father was in the hospital’s adult emergency room and had been in contact with his wife and daughter by phone, Dr. Cipolla said. He was not permitted to release the family’s surname. Both mother and child were in good condition apart from “great emotional stress” he added in a telephone interview.

“We’re comforting them more than curing them,” he said.

Michael J. de la Merced contributed reporting.

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

World News | Yacht that sank off Sicily was carrying people…

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World News | Yacht that sank off Sicily was carrying people celebrating tech magnate’s acquittal; 6 missing

Emergency services at the scene of the search for a missing boat, in Porticello Santa Flavia, Italy, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. British tech giant Mike Lynch, his lawyer and four other people are among those missing after their luxury superyacht sank during a freak storm off Sicily, Italy’s civil protection and authorities said. Lynch’s wife and 14 other people survived. (Alberto Lo Bianco /LaPresse via AP)

PORTICELLO, Sicily (AP) — Police divers resumed searching Tuesday for six people believed trapped in the hull of a superyacht that sank in deep seas off Sicily, including a British tech magnate who was celebrating his recent acquittal on fraud charges with the people who had defended him at trial.

The resting place of their sailboat is some 50 meters (164 feet) underwater off Porticello — a depth that requires special precautions: Rescue crews said they were working in 12-minute shifts, a measure that slowed down their efforts to reach the cramped inside of the wreck.

The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged yacht, was moored about a kilometer (a half-mile) offshore when a storm rolled in before 4 a.m. Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout.

Fifteen of the 22 people aboard survived, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. One body has been recovered, identified by officials as the on-board chef.

Fire rescue officials have said the other six on board will be considered missing until they are located in the wreckage. They include the tycoon Mike Lynch , who was once hailed as Britain’s king of technology and was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp.

Also unaccounted for are Christopher Morvillo, one of Lynch’s lawyers, and Jonathan Bloomer, a chairman at Morgan Stanley International and the former head of the Autonomy audit committee who testified in Lynch’s defense.

Karsten Borner, the captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which rescued the survivors who managed to get into a lifeboat, said he was close enough to be able to see the Bayesian as the storm came in.

“A moment later, she was gone,” he said. “They said they went flat on the water and were sunk in two minutes,” Borner added, quoting the survivors.

The rotating search teams, each made up of two specialized cave divers, worked Tuesday to open up access points to get inside the wreck, which lies at a depth far beyond what most recreational divers are certified to reach.

The divers have not yet been able to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by furniture that had shifted during the violent storm. Rescue crews said they assume the missing six are in those cabins because the storm struck when most would be sleeping, but the teams haven’t verified their presence there through portholes.

Luca Cari, a spokesman for the rescue teams, said the search was proceeding much more slowly than another big shipwreck in Italy, the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship that flipped on its side off Tuscany’s coast, because of the depth of the wreck and the space divers have to maneuver.

“That was much simpler. Here everything is more tight,” he said.

The outing was intended at least in part as a celebration of Lynch’s acquittal and a “looking forward to what was coming next,” said Reid Weingarten, a Washington attorney and a member of Lynch’s defense team who was not on the yacht.

“A lot of people went, a lot of people were planning to go and then of course this happened,” Weingarten said.

Some of the people who stood by Lynch throughout the ordeal were on board, including Morvillo, the lawyer, who Weingarten worked with and said “was like a brother.”

Morvillo’s wife is also missing, according to his law firm Clifford Chance.

Aki Hussain, CEO of international insurer Hiscox Group, where Bloomer, the witness, was chairman, said the company was “deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic event.”

“Our thoughts are with all those affected, in particular our Chair, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy, who are among the missing, and with their family as they await further news from this terrible situation,” he added.

Charlotte Golunski, who survived the disaster, said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived, as did Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares. Hannah Lynch, reportedly the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, is among the missing.

The yacht’s registered owner is listed as Revtom Ltd., according to online maritime database Equasis. Bacares is listed as Revtom’s sole owner, according to corporate registration documents from the Isle of Man.

Its name, Bayesian, may be a reference to “Bayesian Inference,” one of the two main approaches to statistical machine learning and the one that was used by Lynch’s company.

The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew. According to online charter companies, it had been available for charter for 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week and was notable for its massive 75-meter-tall (246-foot-tall) aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world.

In an unrelated event, Lynch’s co-defendant in the Autonomy trial who was also cleared, Stephen Chamberlain, was killed Sunday when he was hit by a car while running in Cambridgeshire, England, said Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg.

Winfield reported from Rome. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, and Danica Kirka and Kelvin Chan in London, contributed.

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