FALMOUTH COASTGUARD RESPONDS TO SINKING NORWEGIAN YACHT OFF ISLES OF SCILLY

July 23, 2007

A lone Norwegian sailor was rescued from a life raft July 21, 2007 after his yacht sank 48 miles North West of the Isles of Scilly.

At 9.30am Falmouth Coastguard received a Cospas-Sarsat distress beacon alert from the Norwegian sailing yacht Sissa. Falmouth Coastguard requested a rescue helicopter from Culdrose attend the scene and at about 11am the crew of the helicopter had located the Norwegian sailor and airlifted him to safety from a life raft.

The Norwegian man reported he was sailing alone on the yacht Sissa on route from Baltimore in Ireland to Falmouth when he reported hitting an object in the water. The vessel was holed and as the yacht took on water he was forced to evacuate to the life raft and the yacht sank. The man was airlifted to Treliske Hospital, Truro.

Cospas-Sarsat provided the only alert in this case, as all other means of communication had failed. Mr Steve Huxley of the UKMCA said, “The Cospas-Sarsat alert data processing by the UKMCC and UK MRCC was spot on, and the properly registered 406 MHz beacon saved this man’s life. GET A BETTER FIX, BUY A 406!”