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Convoying on a dream course
Romain and his crew are called to convoy a 12.5 m sailboat, the Belouna from Saint-François, Guadeloupe, to Ajaccio, Corsica. The boat is well maintained and equipped with a liferaft, EPIRB beacon and grab-bag.
Romain and his crew, David and Clément, leave the port of Saint-François on June 15, 2019. Heading north to Bermuda for the first scheduled stopover. Life on board gets organized, and all goes well until June 22. It's around 8 p.m., time for the crew's meal, when the Belouna hits something.
The impact is violent. The whole crew goes out on deck, but sees nothing. They check the integrity of the hull, but see nothing unusual. The Belouna the crew set off again.
A shipwreck in less than 3 minutes
The following night, at around 2 a.m., David was off watch in the aft cabin when he was thrown against the side bulkhead. The Belouna the boat suddenly goes down and doesn't come back up. Seawater, laden with floating objects, rushes in through the companionway. It all happens very quickly.
David tries to retrieve the EPIRB and survival canister from the saloon, but he's already up to his shoulders in water on a boat lying at 110°. He has to evacuate through his cabin hatch, freediving.
Once on the surface, he was relieved to find his crew clinging to the upturned hull. The front three quarters of the Belouna are already underwater and the yacht is sinking fast. In extremis, they manage to recover the raft, which is already 2 m underwater. The liferaft inflated perfectly, and the whole crew settled in. David thinks about diving again to retrieve the EPIRB, but decides against it for fear of getting caught in a piece of debris and being dragged down with the wreck.
Visit Belouna disappears into the night. only 3 minutes elapsed between capsizing and sinking.
After the shipwreck, the wait
David, Clément and Romain find themselves in the raft, dazed by the speed of the sinking. They had neither beacon nor grabag. And their raft, which is a -24 h model, is not supplied with survival rations or water. And yet they were perfectly legal, since a -24 h offshore raft is required to cross the Atlantic.
The situation isn't great, but morale is high. Romain's naked, David's in shorts and Clément's in a shift jacket.
Only half an hour after sinking, a ship's light was spotted near the raft. Two parachute rockets and a hand light were hit, but the ship continued on its way.
The first day on the raft went by without a word. During the 2nd night, the passage of a heavy squall enabled the castaways to collect rainwater, thanks in particular to the rainwater collection system built into the raft.
Romain cogitates silently: " Only I know that only a cargo ship will be our salvation, but I say nothing so as not to undermine the morale of our little group, which is doing well despite the cold at night, ' the discomfort of the raft, and the heat during the day. Minutes are hours, hours are days and days are weeks."
Late in the afternoon, a sailboat was spotted just 1 mile from the raft. " We whistle, we row, we gesture, the sun is behind us and the sailboat ahead. The sailboat is fading on the horizon and hasn't seen us. Still doubts, but our spirits are high." relates David in his logbook.
Monday night was cold, and condensation made the atmosphere very unpleasant.
Saved by a 5 cm diameter mirror
On Tuesday June 25, at around 4pm, a cargo ship was sighted. It lay between the raft and the sun, facing the shipwrecked crew. David and Clément row to cut it off, while David uses the small mirror to send out light signals. The freighter passes 100 m away and doesn't seem to see the raft, despite the efforts of the castaways.
But 300 m further on, he veers to port and then to starboard, throwing several horns. David, Clément and Romain are saved!
Luck finally smiles on the shipwrecked crew. They board the Sider Mompox a 140-metre freighter flying the Panamanian flag and carrying 17,000 tonnes of sugar .
We were immediately able to reassure our families and regain our strength. We were pampered by the whole crew. The Mompox landed us in London, and after a few administrative hiccups I was able to return to Ajaccio" blows David.
The reasons for the sinking are not yet known. Belouna was a ballasted aluminum dinghy. It is likely that the previous night's impact had damaged the hull in the daggerboard casing.
Share your experience with the raft builder
For the Lorient-based manufacturer of the Belouna at Plastimo, David's story is full of lessons to be learned.
" Plastimo's Design Office technicians listen attentively to suggestions for improvement: user testimonials provide the manufacturer with genuine feedback based on real-life experience "explains Cathy Millien, Plastimo's Communications Manager.
" Because even if the rafts are obviously tested at sea by the Design Office, they are tested by technicians who know the product by heart, and who don't have the added handicap of stress and trauma. "
That's why Plastimo offers castaways (who can provide a sea report validated by the maritime authorities) a replacement raft, in return for a discussion of their experiences, which can be a source of improvement for the raft.
Cathy Millien adds a survivor's testimonial is an additional motivation for our production teams: a reminder that nothing is trivial in the manufacture of a raft, that every gesture is important, that every well-positioned valve, every well-made fold contributes to the proper functioning of the product whose mission is to save lives. We talk a lot about "giving meaning" to our work: it's obvious that the testimony of survivors helps to give meaning to the daily work of our technicians. "
