Last Saturday night, 61-year-old Bernd Johannsen died off the island of Sylt. While trying to save a fellow sailor who was drifting away in the tidal current, he himself became a victim of the treacherous North Sea currents.
Together with two men, a woman and a dog, Bernd Johannsen sets off on a leisurely cruise from Munkmarsch harbour on Sylt at 1.30 a.m. aboard his motorsailer "Troll", an 8.30-metre Centaur from the British shipyard Westerly. After around half an hour under engine power, the crew drops anchor in the Pandertief, a large tidal current in the mudflats between the North Sea island and the mainland.
"On the warm summer night, the people involved then drank a few shots of Wiskey-Cola and wine," says Peter Iden, head of the criminal investigation department on Sylt. However, according to his research, the sailors were "drunk at best, not drunk at all".
Around 3 a.m., Bernd Johannsen's two male guests go to bed. A little later, the 47-year-old Portuguese woman decides to take a dip in the warm waters and climbs down the ladder of the "Troll". When she lets go of the ladder, however, she is immediately swept away.
"Then the skipper must have thrown her some kind of life-saving equipment," says Peter Iden, describing what probably happened according to the interviews. Johannsen then jumped into the water herself. "When the water is running out, the current in the Pandertief is five knots," explains Jürgen Stöver, co-owner of the "Troll" in an interview with YACHT. He cannot explain why his friend started this hopeless rescue attempt. In his opinion, Johannsen must have swallowed water immediately. Because Johannsen knew the area like the back of his hand. And "if he had been in full possession of his strength, he would have simply let himself drift with the current with all the necessary calm."
But things turn out differently. Bernd Johannsen drifts just a few metres past the Portuguese woman and calls for help himself before his voice dies out after a few moments. The woman fights for her life for three hours - and by chance, she is to keep it.
A sailing couple from Westerland, aged 70 and 61, drop anchor on their way from Sylt to Föhr because their navigation instruments have failed. When the 61-year-old woman looks out for seals with binoculars during the emergency stop, she discovers the woman seeking help. "At 6.20 a.m., Maria B. was rescued from the water by the crew of the sailing yacht - completely exhausted and a good two nautical miles away from the "Troll".
At around 6.45 a.m., the "Minden" rescue helicopter takes off to search for Bernd Johannsen. At 10.20 a.m., the man from Sylt can only be recovered dead. Meanwhile, the crew of the "Troll", the two sleeping men, were unaware of the drama.
