The son of a former England cricketer, along with his young daughters, was rescued from the Atlantic Ocean after his boat was hit by a whale.
Zachary Small, son of England fast bowler Gladstone Small, was three days into travelling to the UK from the Azores with his daughters Anua, eight, Willow, five, partner Kim Kim Pelletier Girard, 29, and dog Nala when their catamaran boat was hit by a whale during the night, leaving a gaping hole in the ship.
Small, 33, whose dad, former fast bowler Gladstone Small, played in the winning Ashes tour of 1986/87, and his partner were forced to keep the boat afloat for long enough for rescuers to save them from the ocean.
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Thankfully, a spotter plane and a gas tanker arrived the next day after changing course to save the family, but Small was forced to leave behind his personal belongings on the boat, which included the ashes of his late wife and mother to his children who died of breast cancer three years ago.
Small, a carpenter by trade, had bought and repaired the Wadvogel38 catamaran last year while in Portugal and has since been sailing it around the coast of the country, Madeira and most recently the Azores.
The avid sailor has since started a GoFundMe in a bid to raise money for himself and his family following the ordeal, with him going into great detail about the traumatic experience.
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(Image: xxxxxx/Twitter)
Writing about the moment the whale hit, he said: “Kim shouted up to me after having been catapulted out of bed by the impact of the bang. I could tell from her tone that something was seriously wrong. I raced down the hatch and water was already gushing over my ankles.
“She told me she heard the water coming in from under the bed. I moved the mattress and hatch covers to find that the bilge was already full. I closed the seacocks as I assumed that was the way the water was entering the boat, but to my horror, it was making no difference.”
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