It happened in the last race of the Atterseewoche 2024. The abbreviation "DNF" (did not finish) in the results list is every owner's nightmare: the boat started but did not sail to the finish. In most cases, the only cause is a torn halyard or a tear in the sail. In the case of the "Bibelot II", however, the entire ship sank from one moment to the next. The scene of the incident was Lake Attersee in Austria, which is no less than 130 metres deep at the scene of the accident. Fortunately, the crew remained unharmed and the boat was salvaged. The background to the sinking and how it was salvaged.
The sinking of the "Bibelot II"
Sascha Grigkar, the owner of the "Bibelot II", was on board himself on 2 August. He describes the scenes in which he had to abandon his ship for the time being as nerve-wracking: "We actually had a great wind for sailing. However, a relatively strong gust caught us just as we were about to jibe. In between, I thought for a moment that we could catch ourselves again, but that wasn't the case." The boat went out of control and lay on the water. "I did a lot of laser sailing in my youth (Editor's note today "Ilca"), and although the Special class Because it is such a large, comparatively sluggish boat, it felt exactly like capsizing while sailing a dinghy," describes Grigkar.
They had wanted to jibe from port bow to starboard bow when it happened. "The gust hit us more or less at the exact moment the boom came over," reports Grigkar, "the boom hit the water and I knew it was going to be tight." The person who had moved the spinnaker pole was still standing on the foredeck, and then there was a brief moment when Grigkar hoped that the ship could right itself again. "At the same time, however, so much water had already come in below that it was obvious that the boat was going to fill up," he recalls.
As the capsize of the "Bibelot II" happened during a race of the "Atterseewoche 2024", fortunately a team from race director Gert Schmidleitner was immediately on site to rescue the special class crew in distress.
The Atterseewoche is an annual regatta organised by the Union-Yacht-Club Attersee (UYCA). The club celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2011, making it one of the oldest sailing clubs in Austria. Back on land, the crew of the "Bibelot II" was brought back to the club premises. "As a family of owners, we then decided relatively quickly that we wanted to try to bring our ship back to the water's surface," says Sascha Grigkar.
Once the decision had been made, there were still some uncertainties to be clarified: "We didn't know at all whether we would find our boat again, nor whether the depth at which it might be lying would cause complications during the rescue," says Grigkar, describing the uncertain days after the capsize.
The rescue of the sunken ship
A few days after the "Bibelot II" sank, the Austrian Water Rescue Service was able to locate the ship using sonar. An underwater robot and camera were then deployed. With the help of the equipment on loan from the Salzburg Regional Association of Austrian Water Rescue, the emergency services were able to identify the ship beyond doubt. A plan was then developed to find the best way to refloat the boat.
Around five years ago, the Upper Austrian branch of the Austrian Water Rescue Service had already lifted a boat from a depth of 130 metres. "They probably knew that at the yacht club and asked us whether we could also salvage the 'Bibelot II'," recalls Dr Gerald Berger. The regional head of Upper Austrian Water Rescue was involved in both the planning and the execution of the rescue.
After the first attempt to mark the ship in the depths had to be cancelled due to a storm, another attempt was made shortly afterwards. A buoy was used to mark the spot where the boat was aground in the depths and the GPS data was recorded. The volunteer specialists then planned how the "Bibelot II" could be brought back to the surface.
"The only option we had was to send divers down to lash a slip to the mast. To prevent it from slipping when tension is applied to the rope and to transfer the load to the entire hull, it was also tied to the shrouds, the stays and the forestay," explains Dr Berger. Five years ago, they then worked with lifting balloons.
Unlike back then, a cable winch from Germany was now organised for the salvage of the special class. "Because we couldn't control the buoyancy so well with the balloons, this time we decided that we wanted to load the ship more continuously, slowly and evenly. As long as it is stuck in the mud, the resistance is at its highest, after which we were able to reduce the pull," says Dr Berger, "however, we only realised that the boat must have come free from the mud when we saw on the GPS that we were drifting off with the pontoon on which the cable winch was in use. So there was no big jolt".
They then raised the "Bibelot II" until the mast was about two metres below the working pontoon. "Then we manoeuvred into shallow water. This would have made it easier to find the ship again if the rope had broken, for example, but we also had to ground it once in order to unhook the winch's recovery line and attach the lifting balloons. We had to get far enough away with the pontoon so that we wouldn't put ourselves in danger and damage the rig on the home stretch of the salvage operation," explains Dr Berger.
For such a salvage operation, it is important to know the strengths and weaknesses of the type of ship that is to be lifted. "We discussed in advance with both the owner's family and various specialists which points we could best address," says Dr Berger, "which is why we didn't attach the recovery balloons to the cleats, for example, but rather to the jetties. With the cleats, there was a realistic risk that they would tear out.
Commitment of the members of Austrian Water Rescue
"There are no paid staff in the water rescue service in Upper Austria," explains the regional director and president Dr Berger. Even the compressed air diving equipment and dry suits are largely purchased privately so that they can work on a voluntary basis as part of the water rescue service. Although the training for compressed air diving can be provided for the volunteers themselves, the mixed gas divers, the specialists for high water depths, without whom a rescue such as that of the "Bibelot II" at a depth of 130 metres would not be possible, have to pay for their own diving training, as well as their equipment. "They then make their special expertise as well as the equipment available to the water rescue service," says Dr Berger enthusiastically.
Nevertheless, a rescue operation like the one to save the "Bibelot II" is expensive. "We have a tariff scale in which the hours of man and material are charged as normal," explains Dr Berger, "but the flat rates don't make us rich, they are primarily intended to offset our costs, which are naturally incurred. A professional company that carries out salvage operations commercially is certainly three to four times more expensive.
Is there a future for the "Bibelot II"?
"The salvage operation was really well organised. It was very professionally organised," recalls the owner of the upscale ship Grigkar, "I was there myself, as was a small part of the crew. The people from AySail started with the aftercare on site. They also look after the ship during the winter."
The "Bibelot II", which was subjected to a water pressure of 14 bar at the bottom of the lake, is now in a hall and is being gently dehumidified. The hall climate is now regulated to ensure that the boat does not dry out too quickly, but also that it does not remain too damp for too long, allowing mould and rot to spread. "The temperature and humidity in the hall are controlled in a similar way to a cigar humidor," says Grigkar.
There is also a declared goal: "It is everyone's wish that we can take part in the Attersee Week again next year. But we'll have to wait and see if we can achieve that." The owner is already pleased with what has been achieved: "I am very grateful to everyone involved in the salvage operation for how well everything went and how far we have now come."
The rescue in the video
About the special class
The "Bibelot II" is a special class yacht and has been owned by the Grigkar family for around ten years. "We also sailed a special class before that. But we sold the 'Panther' ten years ago and bought the 'Bibelot II' instead," explains Sascha Grigkar.
Her current boat was built in Vienna in 1992. The special class is one of the first design classes in the world. The then chairman of the German Sailing Association, Adolf Burmester, devised it together with naval architect Carl Busley in 1898 at the request of sailing enthusiast Emperor Wilhelm II.
The building regulations at the time included limits on the construction price, the sail area (up to 51 m²), the displacement (at least 1,830 kilograms), the thickness of the planks used for construction (at least 16 mm), the length of the seating area (maximum 2.50 m) and that the special classes should be sailed with a crew of three men. Above all, however, the sum of the waterline length, maximum width and draught must not exceed 9.75 metres.
