The Sydney to Hobart yacht race has suffered a double tragedy after two sailors died in separate incidents. New South Wales Police say a crew member of one Sydney to Hobart entry was struck by a sail boom just before midnight.

The annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which starts on Thursday, takes sailors on a 628-nautical mile race that exits Sydney Harbor and plunges south along the New South Wales coastline before crossing Bass Strait, rounding Tasman Island, crossing Tasmania’s Storm Bay and pushing up the River Derwent to Hobart.

Two people on two separate yachts in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race have died after they were each struck by a sail boom on the NSW coast.