August 19: Storm swamps team's kayak, forces helicopter rescue
By Dan Morrison

Nat Smith and Juli Lynch launch from Bramston Beach

Clear the phones and stop all kayaks from launching.

People quickly stopped whatever they were doing and walked out to the beach area to scan the horizon. There, several kilometers offshore, somewhere out near Russell Island, a huge purple mushroom-shaped cloud was moving slowly in a northwesterly direction — directly over Team Odyssey, who had safely checked into CP-29 and were paddling toward CP-30 on to Fitzroy Island.

Within minutes, radio traffic from a rescue helicopter to the team in the water to the medical staff back on Bramston Beach was sternly relaying critical information. The team was assured they would be rescued soon, and the medical team was advised to locate blankets and to meet the helicopter on the beach with stretchers.

When the helicopter landed, the four members of Team Odyssey stepped out and walked under their own power up the beach to the medical tent, team captain Juli Lynch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulder.

Lynch was put to bed in the tent, and the medical team began to attend to her.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Team East Wind arrived at the camp, coming down off Mount Bartle Frere, carrying Nohoko Hayama, who was suffering from a serious leg injury. Hayama was put to bed next to Lynch, and quickly fell asleep.

Nohoko Hayama being treated in the medical tent

Later, when her condition had stabilized, Lynch explained what had happened.

"We got to the first checkpoint. We made excellent time; we got there in two hours. So we were feeling good, we had the wind behind us."

"And we headed out from there, and at that point the weather was fine. There is an island you pass directly after Russell. When we passed that the weather was still great."

"We kept going and we were maybe a mile off of that island or so. And then all of a sudden my teammate Nat [Nat Smith, a SEAL Naval officer] who was paddling in the back of the boat, said 'Shit! Don't look behind you, Juli, there's some weather coming in.'"

"He had looked back because we had noticed the swells had started getting bigger and bigger. And I looked behind us and I just saw this wall coming at us. And the swells just got bigger — and bigger."

"And what happened was our boat got swamped. We couldn't keep the water out of the boat. The swells were coming up over the back of the boat and crashing down on top of us."

"It even became a joke at one point, we were laughing because there was no way we could keep the water out, I was in water up to my waist."

Juli Lynch and Nat Smith had chosen a boat with nylon spray skirts, which were water resistant, but not waterproof. Luckily, their teammates Joe Bell, a Navy diver, and Christopher Haggerty, also a Navy SEAL, had chosen a boat with neoprene spray skirts, and they remained relatively dry.

"I think if we had been swamped and it hadn't been severe weather, we might have just paddled swamped. It takes a long time, but you can do it."

Juli Lynch and Nat Smith head into the surf

"We all just looked at each other and decided it was time to break out the radio."

"Nat had actually floated out of the boat, because the whole back end was going down. And he was getting really cold. And I was getting cold. I'm sure we were under water for well over an hour."

"We were about 3 or 4 miles from Fitzroy Island. We just held on to the other guys' kayak, and called on the radio. They said they could get a boat to us in 15 minutes. And at that point Nat was extremely cold and shivering."

"I was starting to chill down and I knew it, but I looked at my watch and thought, 'Fifteen minutes, I can make it.'"

"Then they radioed back that it would be 40 minutes because of the boat chop. And I knew there was no way. And at point we asked them if there was any way they could bring in a chopper."

"I was holding on to the other boat and my fingers were so frozen I couldn't hold on anymore."

They were plucked out of the water with a cable and harness and brought to the medical tent at Bramston Beach. The rescue had taken 26 minutes total.

According to Dr. Cohen, all four competitors were suffering from mild hypothermia, and Lynch was in worse shape than the others.

"She was hypothermic," said Dr. Cohen, "her core temperature was down below 36 degrees [centigrade]. They made the right call."

Juli Lynch being treated for hypothermia

Unfortunately, the official ruling from Mark Burnett is that Team Odyssey is out of the race. "But," Burnett was quick to add, "they handled that situation in a very professional manner."

It is now nearly sunset. There are some 26 teams that have yet to even reach Camp 3 at Bramston Beach. They are, by and large, not the experienced teams. And they certainly are not teams who can count two SEALs and a Navy diver on their roster.

The storm has passed and the wind has died down to a mere whisper. The seas are relatively calm.

But all that can change in an instant. And a night rescue is infinitely more difficult than one in broad daylight.

For those 26 remaining teams, these last 80 kilometers will be an enormous test of both skill and courage.

Dan Morrison covered the Marathon des Sables for Outside Online.