JOHN PLAYER OWNER IS “DEVASTATED”

THE 40 metre double-masted yacht John Player was a sorry sight yesterday morning as owner, crew and salvage teams returned to try and save the vessel, grounded on a sand bank just outside Puerto Portals. Overnight she keeled over to one side and was not only taking on water, but has been holed, apparently in Wednesday's day-long operation to try and ease the yacht off the sand bank. Owner of the John Player, which has been sailed to Majorca all the way from Thailand, Joe Outsed, was said to be “devastated.” “It's not the money, it's that she is such a beautiful yacht and seeing her lying in this condition is just devastating,” he said yesterday.
The race was on to try and remove all the electrical equipment from inside the stricken vessel and any other items which could be salvaged before any further damage was caused yesterday. Outsed was hoping to try and move John Player into dry dock for repairs before nightfall.
The John Player was pushed onto the sand bank just a few metres off the beach in front of Marineland, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, grounding at around 6am. A tug was soon brought in to try and pull her off the sand bank, but a second tug was called in at 6pm, only for one of the tow ropes to snap, forcing the tug teams to quit at around 7.30 pm when divers went down to examine the damage. The rescue operation was due to have continued yesterday, but when the tug crew returned, the John Player was on her side and taking on water. “Now she's in the hands of the insurance company,” said Outsed yesterday.