After a stranded folk boat was discovered on the south coast of Ærø on Tuesday morning, the Danish authorities launched a search operation with two helicopters and several ships south of the islands of Ærø and Langeland.
Bjarne Tykgaard, watch commander of the Funen police force:"Based on the items and documents found on board the sailing boat, we had to assume that a 60-year-old skipper from Germany had gone overboard. We immediately launched a search. When we analysed the navigation software, we discovered that the last course change had taken place on Monday evening at 18:00 at Stollergrund, not far from Kiel Fjord."
At 11.55 a.m. on Tuesday, the Danes handed over coordination of the search operation to the DGzRS.
Christian Stipeldey, spokesman for the DGzRS: "As the water temperature was 14 degrees and we thought there was still a chance of survival, we immediately launched a large-scale search involving naval aircraft, federal police helicopters and a fleet of 15 ships in total."
At around 5 p.m., a jacket was found near Damp that could be clearly attributed to the missing sailor. After the entire search area had been searched, the operation was stopped before nightfall at 6.30 pm.
The skipper was travelling from Schleswig to Kiel in his folk boat when he went overboard for unknown reasons. The boat then drifted around 20 miles to the south coast of Ærø during the night from Monday to Tuesday without a pilot.
There has already been an accident close to the tragic accident this year, when a two-master sank at Bülk lighthouse, but the skipper was rescued.
It happens time and again that solo skippers or crew members go overboard, as in this case of a Polish sailor who was rescued. The happy outcome of the accident for the single-handed sailor is not a matter of course. Even with a larger crew, rescuing a person who has gone overboard is not easy. The following article also contains helpful tips on how to minimise the risk of going overboard.
