Distress at sea 2025: The most spectacular dramas and bizarre rescues of the year

From the Robinsonade on Halloween to the tragedy under the Brooklyn Bridge - the year of distress at sea 2025 had it all: absurd coincidences, dramatic rescues and harrowing accidents. A look back at the most extraordinary cases

When things get bizarre: Robinson, Bojendrift and a tribe of inventive Normans

Halloween on a desert island: What sounds like the plot of an adventure novel became a bitter reality for a German sailor. He had to hold out for more than 60 hours on the uninhabited Dutch island of De Kreupel in the IJsselmeer after his boat ran aground on a groyne and partially sank. With no radio, an empty mobile phone battery, no food or drinking water, he built a makeshift tent out of his sails. Two nights in falling temperatures and strong winds - the mainland only two and a half nautical miles away and yet out of reach. It was only on Sunday morning that the crew of a passing sailing boat discovered the wreck by chance and alerted the coastguard. The rescuers from KNRM Andijk found the exhausted man in a wet state and slightly confused in his canvas shelter. "In twenty years with the KNRM, I have never experienced anything like this," said the skipper of the lifeboat. The boat was later recovered and the owner made off.

When the mooring buoy goes on a journey: "Why are you taking mooring buoys with you?" - This was the question sailor Schlotz-Pissarek had to ask himself after his Hallberg-Rassy 26 and the Danish mooring buoy he had moored to drifted about half a mile. At night, the wind picked up east of Bågø and shifted. Strange bumps finally woke him up - the boat had run aground and was lying slightly on its side. The buoy and chain were still attached to the lines, but the other boats were suddenly very far away. After the initial shock, the boat got free under engine power. The skipper quickly took the travelling buoy with him to warn other sailors - much to the displeasure of his wife, who didn't think this was a good idea with the 26-foot boat. Despite the shock, Schlotz-Pissarek continues to use mooring buoys: "I like these buoys - but with a healthy distrust and often with an anchor alarm."

Mortal danger and tragic outcome

Fatal collision on Lake Constance: A serious accident occurred on 11 October on the Austrian part of Lake Constance. A motorboat crewed by four Austrians collided "at full speed" with a sailing boat carrying two Germans. According to the police, the motorboat was approaching at high speed. The sailboat capsized due to the force of the collision and was completely destroyed. The male sailor was able to jump into the water shortly before the collision and remained uninjured. The woman, on the other hand, suffered serious injuries and was found floating in the water. Despite immediate first aid and resuscitation measures, she died at the scene of the accident. The four occupants of the motorboat were physically uninjured, but were in shock. The exact course of the accident is the subject of further investigations.

Brooklyn Bridge: Tragedy of the Mexican sail training ship "Cuauhtémoc": The worst accident of the year occurred in New York on the evening of 17 May. The 90 metre long Mexican three-masted training vessel "Cuauhtémoc" collided with the when casting off from South Street Seaport with the Brooklyn Bridge. The barque was travelling backwards towards the bridge at 5.9 knots (about 11 km/h). All three masts - mizzen mast, main mast and foremast - collided with the underside of the bridge one after the other and snapped off like matchsticks. Particularly tragic: at the time of the accident, many of the 277 cadets on board were in the rigging for the traditional "dressing ship". Although they were roped up with safety harnesses, two crew members lost their lives and 22 others were injured. The probable cause is machine damage following a loss of power. The current - an incoming tide of two to three knots - and the ten-knot wind from the south-west pushed the unmanoeuvrable ship onto the bridge. The damage to the ship is estimated at over 500,000 dollars. After extensive repairs on Staten Island and a 72-hour sea trial, the "Cuauhtémoc" returned to New York in September and moored at Pier 86 next to the Intrepid Museum. Investigations into the exact cause of the accident are ongoing.

Clinging to a fishing net buoy for hours: Three hours of survival in Lake Attersee was the experience of a 63-year-old single-handed sailor from Vienna after the back rail of his boat came loose and he fell backwards into the water. Whilst his boat sailed on without a rudder, the man managed to hold on to the buoy of a fishing net in his distress. With twelve knots of wind, an air temperature of 17 degrees and a water temperature of 18 degrees, he fought against hypothermia and cramps. A 30-year-old sailor from Linz and his partner finally discovered the severely hypothermic man and pulled him out of the water - a rescue at literally the last minute. The 63-year-old was flown by emergency helicopter to the Salzkammergut Hospital in Vöcklabruck.

Orcas: The unpredictable danger off the Iberian Peninsula

An increasing phenomenon since 2020, sadly the norm in 2025: orca attacks on sailing yachts off the Iberian Peninsula. This year, more than 109 attacks were recorded off Portugal alone. Particularly sensitive: The attacks now also take place in shallow waterwhich was previously considered relatively safe. In June, for example, a sailing yacht was attacked by orcas at Cabo Espichel - at a water depth of just 16 metres. The yacht's rudder blade was badly damaged, but the crew escaped unharmed.

In September orcas sank a sailing yacht off the Costa da Caparica near Lisbon after they damaged the rudder. Despite towing attempts, the boat sank and the crew were rescued by nearby boats. On the same day, two other boats got into difficulties off Cascais and Fonte da Telha - in areas with a water depth of less than 20 metres, which were previously considered relatively safe. In the October, a French family of five was hit 45 nautical miles south-west of Peniche: Their eleven-metre-long "Ti'fare" sank after the orcas caused a leak in the hull. The family - a married couple and three daughters aged between eight and twelve - managed to save themselves in the life raft. An extensive search operation involving a frigate, fishing boat, rescue boat and helicopter brought everyone to the mainland unharmed. The behavioural tips and route planning on platforms such as orcas.pt and the Cruising Association remain indispensable for sailors in the region - absolute safety no longer exists.

North Sea average hotspot

Tidal currents and groundings: The DGzRS crews faced several critical missions on the German North Sea coast in 2025. In August, a sailor capsized a dinghy cruiser off Horumersiel and crashed into the North Sea. One of the sailors was able to stay on board and alerted the sea rescuers, while the other was quickly swept away by the outgoing tidal current. The rescuers only discovered him after 20 minutes of searching in a one metre swell.

A few days earlier, sea rescuers two sailors were rescued from acute danger off the uninhabited island of Mellum: Her yacht was adrift in the surf zone of a sandbank after rudder damage, with two-metre-high waves crashing over the stern, which was already partially submerged. Both cases demonstrate this: The North Sea, with its tidal currents, low water temperatures and treacherous sandbanks, remains an area that demands the utmost attention, even from experienced sailors.

Drama in series off the East Frisian Islands: The shipping lanes between the East Frisian Islands proved to be real accident hotspots in 2025. The sea rescuers had to be called out several times off Norderney: In April, they rescued a family of six, whose nine-metre-long yacht got stuck on a sandbank between the Schluchter and Dovetief fairways. In September, the drama was repeated just one kilometre further west, when two sailors ran aground in the Seegatt Schluchter and became a plaything in the surf with waves up to one and a half metres high. The particularly shallow rescue boat of the sea rescuers had to survive even heavy grounding in order to establish a line connection.

With wind force 7 from the west and waves up to four metres high a Swedish sailing yacht with two people on board got into distress in June. Following engine failure, the unmanoeuvrable yacht threatened to capsize between the shipping lane and the East Frisian Islands. A rescue cruiser reached the distressed vessel 45 minutes after the alarm was raised and towed the 14-metre-long boat safely to Borkum at low speed in extremely difficult conditions. The Swedish couple got off lightly and wanted to continue their journey to southern Europe after repairs.

Rescue from the air

The situation between Spiekeroog and Wangerooge was dramatic on two occasions: Two men could only be rescued by the navy's SAR helicopter after their boat ran aground on a sandbank due to engine failure and began to sink. Neither a fishing cutter nor the Wangeroog sea rescue boat were able to reach the motorboat due to the life-threatening current.

A collapsed and temporarily unconscious man on a sailing boat in the Spiekeroog mudflats required a coordinated rescue operation in July. The boat had drifted out of the fairway and ran aground when the water ran out. An emergency paramedic was dropped directly onto the sailing boat by helicopter, while the emergency doctor was winched onto the rescue boat "Fritz Thieme". The patient's wife had cared for him over the phone until the rescuers arrived - immediate life-saving measures that show how important first aid skills are on board. The man was eventually flown to hospital by helicopter.

Seasickness becomes a danger to life: At the beginning of June, a nine-metre sailing yacht drifted ten nautical miles west of Westerheversand - unable to manoeuvre after suffering rudder damage. Four people on board, three of them very seasick. With a force 6 to 7 north-westerly wind and two metre waves, several towing attempts by two rescue cruisers failed and various cleats tore out. As the condition of the seafarers deteriorated dangerously and it was impossible to take them ashore in the choppy seas, all four had to be rescued by the navy's SAR helicopter. The yacht could only then be towed ashore, where it was taken alongside as the swell subsided and brought to Strucklahnungshörn.

Caribbean drama: Catamaran capsizes, five hours in the life raft: Professional skipper André Engelhardt from Hooksiel experienced his own personal nightmare at the beginning of January: 150 nautical miles north-west of Aruba capsized the Lagoon 42, which he was supposed to ferry from the BVIs to Panama with three fellow sailors. With a wind force of seven to eight and a wave of three and a half metres, the escape hatch of the starboard hull broke out - a problem that has apparently often occurred with this type of catamaran. Within ten minutes, the hull was full of water and the boat capsized. The crew rescued themselves on the catamaran, which was drifting keel-up, and had to make several dives to cut loose the life raft attached to the stern. The four of them held out in the rubber raft for five hours, constantly bailing water. The emergency call was almost dismissed as a fake call, because the foreman of the Horumersiel rescue boat was given an unknown name. Fortunately, the report was forwarded after all - and the scene of the accident was just on the edge of the Dutch-Caribbean rescue helicopter's operational area. "Shorts and a knife were the only things we could take with us," reports Engelhardt. "We weren't afraid, because our emergency call was acknowledged after just 30 minutes. From then on, we knew that help would come."

Fire and water endanger Baltic Sea sailors

Engine room fire and keel centreboard demolition: Crews experienced further dramatic moments in the Baltic Sea and on the Schleswig-Holstein coast. West of Rügen there was a fire in the engine compartment of a sailing yacht - The two-man crew was able to smother the source of the fire with fire extinguishers, but seasickness, strong winds and problems with the sails made it necessary for the rescue cruiser to accompany them to Prerow. A yacht ran aground off HeiligenhafenThis tore off the centreboard and created large holes in the hull. Massive amounts of water entered and the yacht drifted towards the open sea. In a night-time rescue operation in one and a half metre waves, the sea rescuers managed to attach a leaking sail, steer the yacht and tow it into the harbour. One man suffered a hand injury and had to be hospitalised.