Yesterday evening shortly before 11 p.m. the "Mayday" call from the 15-meter yacht "Sharki" was received by Bremen Rescue Radio. According to the DGzRS, a crew member reported that there were six fellow sailors on the ship and that it would sink very quickly. The specified position was several nautical miles from Cuxhaven.
A rescue cruiser and a coastal patrol boat belonging to the water police rushed to the scene of the accident. At the same time, the surrounding shipping industry was asked for support. The captain of a Belgian freighter spotted the sinking yacht. Their crew had to flee to the life raft shortly afterwards.
Until the sea rescuers arrived, the freighter remained close to the shipwrecked ship. They were finally recovered unharmed from the rescue cruiser at around 11.30 p.m.
The castaways - four men and three women - were with the "Sharki", home port Stettin / Poland, on the way from the Kiel Canal to Helgoland. According to her own statements, her yacht had probably collided with a fairway buoy about five nautical miles west of Cuxhaven.
The "Sharki" is the former "Rubin" of the long-time President of the German Sailing Association, Hans-Otto Schümann, who died in 2014. With the ship, he and his crew were involved in the victory of the German team in the legendary Admiral’s Cup in 1973.