Distress at sea off Shetland: Water ingress in heavy seas

Around 14 nautical miles east of the Shetland island of Whalsay, British sea rescue services rescued a solo sailor from his boat yesterday (Wednesday, 30 September 2026). The nine-metre-long vessel, flying the Norwegian flag, had sailed from Bergen across the North Sea and was taking on increasing amounts of water. With south-easterly winds of force seven to eight, the skipper abandoned the boat. AIS data suggest that the boat continued to drift until the early hours of the morning.

Water ingress on the way to Shetland

The solo sailor was According to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the British maritime rescue organisation We sailed westwards from Bergen towards the Shetland Islands. As the day went on, the weather took a turn for the worse. The wind picked up, the sea became rougher, and at the same time more and more water was seeping into the boat.

In the early afternoon, the skipper sent out a Pan-Pan call via VHF marine radio. The Norwegian fishing trawler “Hargun” and a British fisheries protection vessel responded. Shortly afterwards, the Coastguard instructed the Lerwick Sea Rescue Service to carry out the operation.

At 2.30 pm, the Coastguard alerted the sea rescue service in Lerwick. Ten minutes later, the all-weather rescue boat set out. According to the RNLI, it reached an average speed of around 23 knots despite the rough conditions. It reached the yacht at around 4.00 pm.

Transfer directly to the lifeboat

According to the RNLI, by this point there was already so much water inside the yacht that the skipper decided to abandon his boat. The “The “Hargun” remained nearby and provided some shelter from the wind and the sea. The sailor then transferred directly from his yacht onto the lifeboat.

At 5.30 pm, the lifeboat crew were back in Lerwick. There, the uninjured sailor was handed over to a team from the Coastguard. “The most important thing is that he has returned safely to shore,” said RNLI helmsman Stephen Manson after the operation. According to the latest information from the lifeboat crew, the abandoned yacht was drifting east of the Out Skerries in the early evening.

AIS track extends into the night

There is no official information on what became of the stricken yacht. However, an AIS track may belong to the abandoned yacht. It is attributed to the nine-metre-long Norwegian sailing yacht “Twister” and ends in the early hours of this morning.

There is much to suggest that the abandoned boat is the “Twister”: the yacht’s AIS data identifies it as a Norwegian sailing boat measuring 9 × 3 metres. Furthermore, the yacht left Bergen on 28 September, heading west across the North Sea.

The AIS positions also correspond to the area of the incident east of Whalsay, as reported by the rescue team. From there, the AIS track continues for just under 40 nautical miles to the north-east following the skipper’s rescue, before ending south-east of the island of Yell at 02.17 UTC this morning – around eleven hours after the arrival of the rescue team. The transponder apparently still had power at that point, and its antenna was able to transmit a signal.

Some boats sink, others keep drifting

Previous cases show just how differently water ingress can develop. In August 2021, emergency services rescued a solo sailor from his sinking wooden boat north-east of Wangerooge. The man had to jump into the water and was picked up by a helicopter. His boat disappeared into the North Sea shortly afterwards.

The incident involving the Infiniti 52 “Tulikettu” took a different course. Her crew had abandoned the yacht in April 2022 following a collision and uncontrollable flooding in the Bay of Biscay. Six and a half weeks later, it was found west of Portugal – with its mast still standing and, on the outside, largely undamaged.

The Norwegian’s yacht remained at sea east of the Out Skerries on Wednesday evening. If this is the Twister At the time, their AIS transponder was still active in the early hours of the morning. At 02.17 UTC, the publicly visible track ends south-east of the Isle of Yell. What happened to the boat after that remains unknown.