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Flying fish hit round-the-world sailors

Menace lurks under the ocean -- and in the air

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Boats competing in the Volvo Ocean Race have braved a giant "twister" waterspout in the Sydney-Hobart race, icebergs and growlers in the Southern Ocean and now in the Caribbean, flying fish.

Sailors are being hit as the 25-centimetre "winged wonders" leap out of the water at 60 kilometres an hour.

SEB helmsman Magnus Woxen has taken a few in the chest, and Amer Sports One's Chris Nicholson got "slimed" twice on Thursday night while he was standing at the wheel, the race's official Web site reported.

The SEB crew has turned the encounters into a sport, putting up a prize of $100 for anyone who can catch one of the fish in mid-flight. But like all sailors' games there is a catch -- the fish must be eaten immediately, raw and uncooked.

YOUR SAY E-mail us with your views  on the world of sailing   INSIDE SAILING • SEB leaves Amer wooden spoon  • Illbruck damaged in collision off Rio  • Volvo boats prepare for leg five  • Illbruck sets fast pace

For Djuice's Stig Westergaard, the situation is serious. "One of my fears is to get a flying fish in the eye. It's not a joke. It is actually a real threat.

"It is not only the concept of being one-eyed, many people have only one eye. It is equally much the fact that this specific sports injury is not too flashy. One could lose the eye in a wipeout, in a fight with lethal pirates or something else a little more macho than a flying fish. Not to a flying fish."

Djuice's Anthony Nossiter was hit dead centre on his forehead on Wednesday.

The fish have caused other problems on board Tyco. When Guy Salter was sent to change the sail, he ended up covered in the rancid remains of a fish caught in a sail bag. The crew would not let him down below until he showered in several gallons of salt water.

Unlike SEB, Tyco are throwing the fish back into the water "for humanitarian reasons."