Water ingress on a sailing yacht: Sea rescue team saves family from certain death

The twelve-metre-long boat was in danger of sinking around three nautical miles (approximately 5.5 kilometres) north of Sassnitz. Using the auxiliary vessel “Notarius”, which belongs to the sea-rescue cruiser “Harro Koepke”, the sea-rescue team managed to tow the stricken boat safely into the harbour at Sassnitz.

At around 8.50 pm, Bremen Rescue Radio – the coastal radio station for maritime distress operated by the German Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (DGzRS) – received a barely intelligible ‘Mayday’ call: an immediate threat to life.

Communication difficulties outside the national park

The distress call came from a twelve-metre-long Polish sailing yacht with six people on board – a family with three children, plus the skipper. “They were coming from Bornholm and were presumably heading for Sassnitz,” says DGzRS press spokesman Patrick Testa-Kreitz. At the time of the distress call, the boat was near the cliffs of Jasmund National Park, which made communication via marine radio difficult. Eventually, the sailors were able to explain their predicament in more detail: for reasons as yet unknown, a large amount of seawater had entered their boat. The sailing yacht was in danger of sinking.

The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre immediately alerted the sea rescue cruiser “Harro Koepke”, based in Sassnitz, which straight away set course for the stricken vessel. At the time of the incident, there were light winds from the south-west and calm seas. The sailors were still able to wade out to meet their rescuers. The sea rescue team reached the yacht about ten minutes later and came alongside it in their tender, the “Notarius”. By this point, the people on board the stricken yacht were already standing in water up to their shins.

• ​TV documentary: ARD’s series on sea rescue teams is to continue

Operations for the fire service and maritime rescue services

The sea rescue team deployed a powerful bilge pump. This enabled them to pump out at least enough water to prevent the situation on board from getting any worse. The “Notarius” towed the yacht safely to the nearby town harbour of Sassnitz. There, the fire brigades from Sassnitz, Sagard and Glowe took over to secure the boat in the harbour. The six people on board the yacht were unharmed.