US Coast Guard rescues two sailors in southeast of Nantucket coast in Massachusetts – Sailing news
The US Coast Guard rescued two sailors when a huge wave swamped a 45 feet sailing yacht, 120 miles southeast of the Nantucket coast in Massachusetts.
The yacht Eva was sailing in Massachusetts waters with conditions described as high but not dangerous, when a rogue wave hit it and broke its mast.
The rescued sailors were Manfred Jabbusch from Germany and his fellow crewman, Heinz Fragner, who were sailing 45 ft Eva from Florida to Greece when the incident occurred. However, they were safe while Eva could not make it and they lost it to the waters.
As the conditions were described as high but not rough, the experienced sailors were not worried about the weather. The coast distance between Florida and Greece was quite long so Jabbusch and Fragner were a bit relaxed but as they sailed deep into the seas,
the water became 20 to 30 feet high and they got hit by a huge wave.
The calm sail ended when the wave struck with the boat brutally and capsized it, tormenting its mast, hatchways and portholes and also ruptured a part of its deck. Eva’s bilge pumps, GPS system and radio broke down as the yacht began to take on water while
the sailors lost their food.
However, their life raft was safe and they had a hand-held GPS device which they stowed away along with a satellite phone from which they called for help. They called a German rescue station which connected them to the Boston Coast Guard Command Centre and
after less than two hours, an Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 helicopter came to rescue them and fly back to Coast Guard Air Station in Bourne, Massachusetts.
Both sailors were taken to Falmouth Hospital for first aid and were discharged after a minor examination. Both are in good condition now.
“If you hit a monster wave, you have no chance to survive,” Jabbusch said after the incident.
“It is a very bad thing to lose the boat,” Fragner told Cape Cod Times. “It will take days or weeks to understand all this. It is very sad when you lose it. Of course, life is more important.”
These kinds of incidents are a warning for those sailors who sail off the track and on the other hand, yacht communication systems need a secure backup to handle the situations when any mishap takes place.
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