Narrow Escape

MORPETH ROTARY RESCUE AT SEA

Elaine and Jan Grieveson, who live near Morpeth, described a journey in 2008 where they planned to sail a yacht 250 nautical miles from the Tyne to Holland. It ended in a rescue at sea. The trip was with friends, a married couple who wanted a volunteer crew to help on their  newly acquired 31' boat. They only had a two week window to fit in their adventure. The friends were enthusiastic but fairly new to sailing whereas they were experienced sailors who had crossed the North Sea over 30 times. The weather forecast was not good. The boat was a bit of a squash for four, and they found that a very tall male volunteer crew member had also come along. 

When they set out from North Shields, it was windy and cold and they all got sea sick, so they slowly sailed the 30 miles down to Hartlepool before attempting to cross. They began the journey toHolland but for six hours there was a force 8 gale from the south west. The friends and the extra volunteer decided not to venture from the cabin and left the sailing to Elaine and Jan. They passedScarborough at 11 pm but needed to find a safe haven from the gale. Bridlington was the last possible sheltered harbour for the next 200 miles. They were running late for the tide when they turned towards Bridlington at about 2 am. They had to take a chance that there was enough water to cross the sand bar, which there was, but not enough water in the harbour for the keel. The Harbour Master threw a line and pulled them in by 3 am to tie up at the quay so the boat would not topple. The weather was still poor and at that time there were no smartphones to get internetupdates. For over two days they called in at the local library to keep in touch with forecasts, until there appeared to be a 48 hour gap between two weather systems. 

They set off for Holland again with a south westerly gale blowing from the beam and very large seas. It was expected to be force 5 but became a force 9 with 12' waves. By then they were 70 miles into the North Sea with no possibility of sailing back. Jan noticed the hatch cover was loose and went to fix it while the owner took the helm. It was then that an enormous 25' wave crashed down onto the boat. They were at first under water and then had water chest high and the steering tiller out of the water. They expected to die but somehow survived. Water was coming into the cabin and was ankle deep. The two in the cabin had to start bailing. They thought they had been hit by another boat. The spare volunteer, who had taken to his bunk to pray, was thrown out, smashing the cabin table. The heavy oven had come off its supports. All of the lockers on one side came open and they were pelted with tins of beans. The batteries were waterlogged so they had no navigation lights, radio or navigation system in a busy shipping lane. They had a hand held radio and GPS that still worked. Jan was the only one who could manage the helm. Still under sail, they began to get half way up waves then fall back, so he had to steer across them, with the skin gone from his hands. By midnight, they were still 80 miles from Holland. They could hear the waves but not see them. The boat was knocked down by large waves three or four times. They sent a signal to the authorities that they did not need help but had no lights and shipping should be warned. They had not realised they had lost an emergency beacon overboard that sent automatic distress transmissions, so their families had been told they were missing at sea. Another knock down by a large wave had water up to their knees in the cabin and destabilised how the boat was handling. As they were fast approaching a lee shore and could be driven aground, they decided to reverse course back tothe Tyne. They now needed to switch from sail to engines. They turned the key to start the engines and there was a big bang. A knot in a shiny new rope had slipped out and the rope had gone over the side and wound around the propeller. They had to make a May Day call. It took a Dutch lifeboat an hour and a half to find them and even when close, could not see them in the dark. It had to switch on its searchlight and be guided in. They could not get near without damage because of the heavy seas, so the lifeboat came around to give some shelter for 2-3 hours. As it becamedaylight at about 3.30 am the boats were able to come alongside and were moving up and down together. When they were 4' apart a lifeboatman jumped, grabbed rope that was not secure, fell,banged his head and went into the sea. Jan had to sail his boat under him to scoop him out of the water. By this time the lifeboat was 500' away. They got a line on board by 6 am and were pulled into Ijmuiden by 7.30 am. Jan was exhausted after 15 hours on the tiller and the ladies below were still bailing but they were glad to be alive. Once recovered, they sailed back to England when the weather was better. On the journey home they found a gap behind the cabin where the water had been getting in. Their friends later moved to Australia and bought a boat out there. They never saw the spare volunteer again.

They were thanked by Vice President Julie Mulqueen for sharing their exciting adventure.