Jacks Cara, a pretty caravel at anchor in the Bay of Morlaix, has decided to go and stretch her daggerboard by herself. After running away for nearly 11 days, she was recovered off Goury, 100 miles from her starting point.
Anchoring break during a gale
On the night of 19 August 2020, the caravel Jacks Cara disappeared from its anchorage near Callot Island in the Bay of Morlaix in Northern Brittany. An ill-intentioned act is first considered, but the viewing of a surveillance camera installed on the shore confirms that Jacks Cara left of her own free will, without outside help. The strong depression that hit Brittany in the middle of August got the better of the anchorage. Furthermore, the SW'ly wind, combined with a high tidal coefficient, allowed the runaway to slip away quickly.
The next day, the Cross is notified of the disappearance. Alert messages are broadcast on the navigation zone. But Jacks Cara is still missing..
An unmanned 100 M daggerboard
On September 1st, the SNSM of Goury, in the Manche, is asked to intervene. The hull of a small sailing boat was reported drifting offshore and had to be secured. Once located and brought back to its place, the sea rescuers take the sailboat in tow, which is identified as Jacks Cara. This caravel has drifted alone for a hundred miles!
The caravel capsized while drifting, but the buoyancy tanks played their role perfectly. The mast and the small outboard disappeared, but the boom and the mainsail remained attached to the hull.
"With all the stones in the Bay of Morlaix, she was very lucky not to run aground on one of them," notes Gaël Le Cléac'h, a member of AS Caravelle. And this, to the delight of Sandrine the owner, who will go and recover her caravel she thought lost.
Check your anchorage regularly
After a particularly busy summer, let us once again salute the exemplary work of the SNSM. This story has a happy ending thanks to their intervention and a huge amount of luck. It sometimes happens that sailboats that were thought to be lost reappear after a long drift. But these wanderings of boats without a skipper most often end at the bottom of the sea or embedded on a rock. Hence the need, summer and winter alike, to make sure that your boat is in good condition when it is moored or anchored.
