Water ingress on 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”, part of the “Harro Koepke” sea-rescue cruiser, the sea-rescue team managed to tow the stricken boat safely into Sassnitz harbour.

At around 8.50 pm, Bremen Rescue Radio – the coastal distress radio station of 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 situation 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 arrived at the yacht about ten minutes later and came alongside it in their rescue boat, the “Notarius”. By this point, the people on board the stricken vessel were already standing in water up to their shins.

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Operations for the fire service and sea rescue services

The sea rescue team deployed a powerful bilge pump. This enabled them to pump out 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.