A single-handed skipper from Hude in Lower Saxony certainly had a different idea of yesterday's public holiday. On his way to Norderney early in the morning, he collided with a coaster on the Outer Elbe - with serious consequences. Nevertheless, the sailor had several lucky breaks.
How the Sea rescuers report, they were alerted by the Cuxhaven Traffic Centre at around 6.40 a.m. yesterday morning and immediately set out for the scene of the accident with two rescue cruisers. The scene was approximately at buoy 5 on the Outer Elbe, a good five nautical miles west-north-west of Scharhörn. The 9.50 metre long sailing yacht and the 89 metre long freighter "Lotta", which was en route from Rouen (France) to Lithuania, collided there.
While the freighter remained virtually undamaged, the yacht suffered severe damage. The mast broke and there was a large leak in the hull. The skipper miraculously survived the collision unharmed.
Quick intervention by another yacht crew prevents the worst from happening
The "Lotta" remained close to the yacht until the sea rescuers arrived so that they could provide assistance if necessary. Nevertheless, the shipwrecked vessel would probably soon have been driven onto the nearby Scharhörn reef by the current and stranded there. However, this was prevented by the crew of another yacht. They hooked the distressed vessel and kept it at a safe distance from the shallows.
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A second stroke of luck for the unlucky skipper came later, when the rescue cruisers arrived on the scene and a DGzRS crew member boarded the damaged yacht. The man looked after the skipper, who was sailing alone and was "visibly under the impression of the events", according to the sea rescuers. Above all, however, he noticed that as a result of the mast breakage, the sail hanging in the water looked like a leaking sail.
"That prevented the worst from happening, because there was a large hole in the port side of the hull only about two handbreadths above the waterline," reports Hanno Renner, foreman of the rescue cruiser "Anneliese Kramer".
The rescuers finally took the yacht in tow and brought it safely to Cuxhaven. It is not yet known why the collision occurred.
