Skipper Sees Sub Crush Boat

VICTORIA, B.C. - A man whose sailboat collided with a Chilean submarine in the Strait of Juan de Fuca thought his life was over as his crushed boat slipped into the water.

Jory Lord, 27, of Tofino, said his 50-foot ketch was just off Sooke, west of Victoria, Sunday when he saw the bow wave of the submarine coming for him.

"The big bow wave lifted my boat up out of the water. The impact crushed the starboard side." Lord said he ran below and called Mayday. He was up to his waist in water and tried to swim away as fast as he could because his wooden vessel, Moon Glow, was sucking him down.

The diesel sub was en route to San Diego, Calif., after exercises at the naval test range at Nanoose on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

Lord stayed afloat in the frigid water by hanging on to an empty propane tank until the submarine crew rescued him.

The laws of the sea dictate that vessels under sail have right-of-way over vessels under power. Lord said he was under sail and wonders why the submarine didn't give way.