Laurent Camprubi is 62 years old and has sailed thousands of nautical miles.
Now he also has a date that will surely mark him forever: August 2, 2022, the day his competition sailboat capsized and he was rescued after remaining semi-submerged for 16 hours, trapped under the hull of the boat and breathing air thanks to the bubble that was created inside.
And so it was until divers from Salvamento Marítimo took it out of there, 14 miles north of the Sisargas Islands, in front of the Galician town of Malpica, with waves of two meters, wind of up to 25 knots and water at 18 degrees, when almost nothing could be expected for his life.
The blows to the hull made it possible to locate the castaway.
“I thought: They know I'm here and they're going to save me.
I only thought about surviving”, Camprubi declared to the Efe agency, already safe and sound.
He will sail again.
“Each life saved is our greatest reward”
This was the rescue carried out yesterday by Maritime Rescue of the crew member of the French sailboat JEANNE SOLO SAILOR, which was keeled in the sun 14 miles NNW from the Sisargas Islands.
pic.twitter.com/gqobWTSoWc
– MARITIME RESCUE (@salvamentogob) August 3, 2022
Salvamento Marítimo has distributed a video on social networks with the distressing rescue.
The images show the French sailboat
Jeanne Solo Sailor
overturned, with "the keel in the sun" and without a trace of life;
the arrival of the rescuers, the assurance of the buoyancy of the ship and, finally, the exit of the navigator from inside the hull, dressed in the survival suit that has allowed him to float and withstand 16 hours in the water, which was at a temperature between 17 and 18 degrees.
The rescuers had received at 8:23 p.m. on Monday a shipwreck alert from the sailboat's radio beacon at the Finisterre Maritime Rescue Center.
The
Jeanne Solo Sailor,
12 meters long and flying the French flag, was participating in qualifying tests for a regatta for solo sailors, the so-called Rum Route, which is held every four years between the French port of Saint-Malo and the Antilles.
French sailboat JEANNE SOLO SAILOR keel in the sun 14 miles NNW of Sisargas Islands.
Maritime Rescue coordinates the search for its only crew member, a 62-year-old French man.
Members of the Maritime Service of the @guardiacivil and @GardacostasGal collaborate pic.twitter.com/V676oQD4jp
– MARITIME RESCUE (@salvamentogob) August 2, 2022
Camprubi, married with five children, explained that when he was at the height of Sisargas, he realized that he had lost the centerboard [keel that pivots under the hull and provides stability against the lateral push of the wind].
“The accident happened in 15 seconds.
He was sailing and suddenly he was like this.
He was going to pull on the big sail, but the ship tilted and capsized.”
The navigator did not manage to get out of the boat, but due to
the wet bell effect,
an air bubble of between 30 and 40 centimeters remained.
“I knew that I was here and that they were going to rescue me, that they were not going to leave me alone.
It was about time.
I had to survive for myself and my family, ”she assured, as collected by Salvamento's Facebook.
He did not lose his calm, despite the fact that he was exhausted because he had been sailing for 30 hours without interruption, coming from the port of Lisbon
The rescue was underway, but it had to be executed successfully.
“As soon as we received the call, the diving intervention team of the Ardentia Marine company, the successful bidder that provides services from the strategic rescue bases, was launched,” says Juan Ferrer, head of Salvage Operations.
He was fighting against time, waves and hypothermia.
The maritime device was made up of the
Salvamar Betelgeuse
vessel, the
Sar Gavia
ship (both from Maritime Rescue) and the
Rio Xallas
patrol boat of the Civil Guard;
and the air operation was made up of Helimer 402 and Helimer 211 helicopters from Salvamento Marítimo;
and the Pesca II helicopter of the Gardacostas of the Xunta de Galicia.
They first searched the area.
No trace of life.
They then located the sailboat.
Divers Antonio Gómez and Andrés Pita jumped into the sea.
“Our main objective was to check that the castaway was alive and responding to our signals.
Hitting the helmet, he immediately responded with shouts and blows.
The emotion skyrocketed”, they say.
"He's down, he's answering," the helicopter pilots are heard saying in the video.
―“Doucement.
Rescue team [calm down, rescue team]”, they yelled at him.
The sailboat, towed to port after the rescue of its skipper.
The divers placed buoys to ensure the buoyancy of the ship and got inside.
“Once we recognized all the access, we realized that there were some red boots of a flotation suit to the left of the accommodation entrance.
The immediate reaction was to touch a boot and the foot was instantly withdrawn.
We put a boat hook into the area, the man grabbed it and at once a face with open eyes appeared.
He pushed towards us with great temperance, we grabbed him and we were dodging the ropes [ropes or ropes] until we pulled him to the surface, ”they detail.
Camprubi was found to be safe.
-“Don't worry, now Helicopter for you”, the divers calmed him down.
Camprubi was alive and safe.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he repeats to each of his rescuers.
He is going to keep sailing.