On Thursday evening, the sea rescuers from the Darßer Ort station and their volunteer colleagues from Zingst joined forces to bring twelve Polish and Russian sailors in distress and completely soaked through to the safe harbour of Darßer Ort.
The group, consisting mainly of young adults, had travelled from Stralsund to Zingst on the "Orzeł Jumne", a replica of a Viking ship. Haithabu /Schlei in Schleswig-Holstein. At around 7.15 p.m., the open wooden boat (home port Wollin/Poland), which is around twelve metres long and built like a typical longship, ran aground at the tip of the Darß. The surf hit the boat. The crew began to bail with buckets.
The sailors sent out a mayday call (immediate danger to life) via the international radio emergency channel 16, but did not give an exact position. In addition, dense fog and the renewed silting up of the Darßer Ort harbour made the rescue operation more difficult. The DGzRS station there has once again been deserted for months. The rescue cruiser "Theo Fischer" is forced to dock in the alternative harbour of Barhöft near Stralsund. It left there immediately, but was expected to take over an hour to get there instead of just a few minutes.
The Bremen Maritime Distress Centre of the DGzRS therefore also alerted the volunteer crew from Zingst. The "Zander" rescue boat stationed there is on a trailer and can be used on the move, towed by a Unimog. The crew travelled with the trailer to Darßer Ort and launched the rescue boat there. In addition, the volunteer sea rescuers from the Prerow/Wieck station searched the western beach of Darß for the stranding site with their all-terrain four-wheel drive vehicle.
Meanwhile, the tugboat "Taucher O. Wulf 3", which was operating in the area, offered its assistance. It stopped and located the stricken vessel in the dense fog over Prerow Bay at the tip of the Darß. Due to its draught, however, it was unable to reach the stranding site. The crew launched a rubber dinghy. They succeeded in freeing the shipwrecked vessel.
In the meantime, the "Theo Fischer" arrived. Her daughter boat "Ströper" was able to manoeuvre together with the rescue boat "Zander", which was also very shallow, despite the heavy silting at Darßer Ort. The sailors did not want to leave the Viking ship replica. "Ströper" and "Zander" therefore took over the tow. The sea rescuers joined forces to bring the wooden boat, which itself only has a draught of 40 centimetres, into the port of refuge. "The sailors were very lucky. We had a force three north-easterly wind. With just a little more wind, their situation would have been much more dangerous," reports Lutz Griesberg, foreman of the "Theo Fischer".
This operation has once again demonstrated the need to have a DGzRS station in this area of the Baltic Sea coast, from which the sea rescuers can intervene immediately and quickly in emergencies. In 2011 alone, when the rescue cruiser was still able to call at the Darßer Ort port of refuge throughout the year, its crew rescued 45 people from distress or danger at sea in 43 missions.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
