HM Coastguard has coordinated the rescue of an experienced sailor 700 miles off the Irish coast after their mast snapped off in stormy conditions, reports NewsLetter.
Distress beacon alerts
The Coastguard’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) received two distress beacon alerts from the yacht 700 miles west of Ireland Friday, 14 October. The vessel had extensive damage and was drifting in very poor weather conditions. It is not clear where the sailor departed from for this particular journey but the yacht is registered in the USA, where the sailor has an address, and a contact of the sailor confirmed that the vessel set off in July this year. As well as that, information received from a US JRCC showed they actioned a beacon from the same vessel on 4 October in Greenland.
Thanks to the two beacons onboard, the Coastguard was able to locate the yacht and begin the search and rescue mission. A request was made to the RAF to deploy two aircraft, which identified the stricken yacht using coordinates provided by the JRCC, at around 8.20am Saturday.
At the scene, the aircraft provided communications with the vessel. At the same time HM Coastguard was broadcasting to all shipping within 300 miles and three vessels responded, altering their courses to intercept the yacht. After four unsuccessful attempts by another merchant vessel overnight, the survivor, an American national and experienced sailor, was rescued just after 6.30am on Sunday, 16 October by motor tanker Amax Anthem, who then took the American sailor to Denmark. It is not known where the sailor will go now or what the next steps in his journey will be.
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Source: NewsLetter
