Presumably caught in a gust, the Schwertjolle had flattened out on the water about one kilometre from Breege harbour. The sail prevented it from capsizing completely. At the time of the incident, the wind was blowing from the north-west at three to four on the Beaufort scale.
The sailors, who were from Berlin, managed to get a foothold on the boat, which was drifting on its side. They dialled the DGzRS emergency number on their mobile phones. The call came through to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Bremen shortly after half past two. From there, the volunteer rescuers at the Breege station were alerted.
Shortly afterwards, they set out for the scene of the accident in the sea rescue boat “Manfred Hessdörfer”, took the men on board there and righted the dinghy with the help of the crew of a rubber dinghy from the Breege Volunteer Fire Brigade, who had also rushed to the scene. With the dinghy in tow, they then returned to Breege, where the survivors were handed over to the ambulance service on shore for further treatment.
Be sure to save this in your mobile: the sea rescue speed dial 124 124
This incident shows just how useful it can be to carry a mobile phone with you when sailing a dinghy. Unlike when sailing a yacht at sea, you don’t usually have a VHF radio with you, but mobile phone reception is generally reliable near the coast. In the event of an emergency, you can then use your smartphone to call for help.
However, this is only possible if the mobile phone does not get wet in the event of the boat capsizing or any other emergency. This can be prevented by using special waterproof cases for mobile phones. There are many of these available, and some are also suitable for storing your wallet and keys.
We recently featured a selection of recommended cases here:
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
