The damaged yacht goes down, filmed by the skipper. Please scroll down for video
On 24 March, Pete Sage, member of the shanty band "Santiano", had to be rescued after his sailing yacht sank off Schönberg. Now Jeanneau, the French shipyard that built the ill-fated vessel, is launching a recall campaign. The installation of the bow thruster is the problem
Shortly after the sinking of the Sun Odyssey, Jochen-P. Kunze, lawyer of the "Santiano" violinist Pete Sage, told YACHT the retractable bow thruster identified as the cause of the Jeanneau's sinking. Contrary to the installation instructions from the supplier Sleipner, only sealing compound was visible on the installation flanges of the radiator box, while the prescribed angle laminates were missing on the Sun Odyssey 410. In the meantime, the shipyard has contacted us. Jeanneau does not yet see any connection between this problem and a recall campaign that was launched on 1 March and in which the shipyard contacted customers via the dealers, Managing Director Paul Blanc told YACHT immediately after the sinking.
+++update+++update+++update: What affected owners need to know- and do
A Jeanneau team has since inspected the lifted yacht and confirmed the area of the retractable bow thruster as the cause of the leak. Jeanneau is calling on all owners of Sun Odyssey 410, 440 and 490 models equipped with the retractable bow thruster and built between 2020 and 2022 to take reinforcement measures in the thruster area. Jeanneau CEO Paul Blanc: "The safety of our boats is an absolute priority and we are working on an information system for the owners concerned. A dedicated section on our website provides owners with detailed instructions on how to carry out this reinforcement." The information is available at www.jeanneau.com (please click) to find.
According to the shipyard, Jeanneau will bear the entire costs for the crane, the material and the work
The downfall in the video
The shipyard's first statement in the directly translated original version:
Jeanneau was informed of an incident on 24 March 2023 in which a Sun Odyssey 410, built in 2021, sank off the coast of Schönberg, Germany. Fortunately, the owner and his wife on board were rescued thanks to the rapid intervention of the DGzRS, the Baltic Sea rescue service.
Jeanneau teams intend to thoroughly investigate the recovered boat as soon as possible to determine the exact causes of this isolated incident. We will keep our dealers and customers informed of the outcome of this investigation.
At this time, there is no connection between this incident and the recall action initiated on 1 March 2023 to strengthen the bonding of retractable bow thruster modules in the hulls of the Sun Odyssey 410, 440 and 490, which are equipped with this option and were produced in 2021 and 2022.
As the safety of our boats is an absolute priority, we wanted to reinforce the flange of the bow thruster on these hulls as a precautionary measure to prevent the occurrence of leaks without the risk of water ingress.
For the past month, the list of affected hulls has been sent to dealers so that they can contact their customers to organise this work.
The relevant information measures with the owners will be continued in the coming weeks.
Photo: SleipnerSimilar exit radiator from Sleipner
Jeanneau dealer Richard Gründl: "We don't want to get involved in speculation about the cause too early and trust that the responsible authorities and the manufacturer will carry out all necessary investigations to determine the exact cause."
Photo: YACHT/P. ContinA sister ship of the sunken Sun Odyssey 410
You can find out all further developments in the case at YACHT