Investigating yacht-to-yacht rescues

by George Day, Cruising Compass
In June of 2024, we covered the dramatic story of the Swedish-flagged Ida Lina, an Arcona 46 cruising boat, that sank due to rudder post failure near the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific. The couple aboard radioed their buddy boat friends who were able to rescue them as the Ida Lina sank below the waves.

This week we heard from our friends and associates at the Cruising Club of America regarding their current research project on yacht-to-yacht rescues at sea, ie. cruising or racing sailors who are rescued by fellow sailors. This project stems from the recent sinking of three boats associated with races to Bermuda.

The working group is comprised of leading experts from the CCA, US Sailing, Bermuda Race Foundation/Newport Bermuda Race, Marion Bermuda Race, Royal Ocean Racing Club, and Australia Sailing. These volunteers have identified 25 incidents of sailors rescuing other sailors and are developing a list of conclusions from the events that will become recommendations for the future.

One of the important initial findings is that the crews facilitating the rescues had never put in place plans for such a rescue so each maneuver and action was taken ad hoc. And, two of the sinkings stemmed from clogged fuel filters, thus the loss of battery power to run the bilge pumps.