At around eight o'clock this morning, the nine crew members of the "Kallisto" boarded the life raft. Apparently, after a rudder failure, so much water entered the ship so quickly that it had to be abandoned. At that time, the yacht was about five nautical miles north-east of Bornholm near the Davids shallows.
This was reported by Danish radio. The first indications of the accident came from outsiders via the race tracker. The race organisers, on the other hand, were apparently unaware of the dramatic events for a long time and only informed about the rescue of the crew at a very late stage.
During the accident, a ferry and other regatta participants stood by the casualties around the skipper couple Andrea Michelmann and Jens Burmeister until the Danish rescue boat "Mads Jacobsen" arrived on the scene. It rescued the crew and brought them safely to Rønne in the south-west of Bornholm. Shortly afterwards, the "Kallisto", a fairly new racing yacht built by the Saxon shipyard Race2Win, sank.
The exact causes of the accident are not yet known. However, the wind conditions the previous night were probably not easy. Several other participating yachts in the regatta, which are currently taking part in the Warnemünde Week had to retire prematurely due to material damage.
The fastest boats in the race, which was contested by a total of 65 yachts in different classification groups, were supposed to be back in Warnemünde in the evening. However, the south-westerly wind is expected to drop considerably in the coming hours, meaning that the arrival is likely to be delayed.
Incidentally, the crews had been given the choice of which direction the ships rounded the island of Bornholm. Most of them had opted for an anti-clockwise circumnavigation.
All current positions on the Race tracker which is being held for the first time at the Hanseboot Rund Bornholm, the official name of the regatta.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
