Discovered by a fisherman
In early January 2024, in Audierne Bay, a small fishing vessel comes across a sailboat that appears to be adrift. Intrigued, the skipper reroutes and discovers a sailboat in a sorry state. The masts are gone, the deck is cluttered and the wheelhouse damaged. Fauna has begun to colonize the hull, which appears to have been in the water for some time.
No trace of human life was detected on board after this first passage. The fisherman informs CROSS Corsen of his discovery. The CROSS immediately mobilized the all-weather dinghy SNS 083 Prince d'Eckmühl, from the Penmarc'h SNSM station, and the patrol boat Iris, from Affaires Maritimes.
To prepare for any eventuality, and lacking information on the nature of the intervention, the launch's skipper, Cristian Caoudal, mobilized a crack crew:
" The 9 of us set off with an emergency doctor and a nurse. We didn't know what we were going to run into when we got on board."
The abandoned yacht is 13 miles from the port of Penmarc'h. Conditions were good for a winter off Brittany, and the trip was completed quickly.
The Maritime Affairs patrol boat is already in position, and has launched its RIB. Customs officers come aboard to investigate the yacht and try to understand what happened.
Nobody on board, lots of water in the hold. No papers in the chart table. Only the name on the hull identifies the vessel: Heidi. The SNSM volunteers are picked up by the patrol boat's RIB and towed away. The convoy heads for the port of Saint Guénolé at reduced speed.
Abandoned in the storm Ciaran
The SNSM volunteers give the name of the boat to the CROSS, who carry out a few searches. They quickly traced the yacht's history via their British counterparts. Heidi had been abandoned during storm Ciaran, three months earlier, at the end of October 2023.
In winds of 70-80 knots, the Norwegian skipper was injured on board after dismasting. The rescue operation involved two aircraft and the diversion of the 249 m tanker Green Azure.
In Dantean conditions, some 700 miles off the coast of Cornwall, British rescuers managed to recover the skipper.
The sailboat's hull was left adrift in the storm. Lives cannot be risked to retrieve equipment. Ciaran had caused extensive damage to the coastline, and Heidi was lost to sight. She reappeared three months later, having drifted more than 500 miles and crossed the DST at the tip of Brittany without attracting attention.
A time-consuming operation carried out by volunteers
Once the hull was moored in the port of Saint Guénolé, the volunteers proceeded to pump out the water in the hull, and secure the wreck. Although floating, Heidi suffered during her unmanned voyage.
The Norwegian skipper, who is recovering, is still unable to move about, and will not be able to come and collect his yacht for several weeks. But everything on board has to be redone.
The SNSM volunteers will return to the station in the evening, with the satisfaction of having withdrawn from traffic a sailboat that could have caused a serious collision. The Penmarc'h station has around fifty volunteers and fifteen sailors. And as Christian points out, a skipper without a crew is of little use, which is why he prefers to highlight the work of his crew: Gilles Charlot, Bruno Bolzer, André Le Floch, Pascal Charlot, Stéphanie Taconet, Loig Le Guyader, Christian Bonnec and Eric Bariou. It's thanks to these volunteers that yachtsmen and professionals alike can sail more serenely along our coasts.
