Patrol ship rescued a yacht with three crewmen

03.12.2010 Patrol ship rescued three yachtsmen and yacht Ales sailed from Ochakov to Sevastopol during full gale in the Black Sea.

According to Capt 1 rank Andrei Myshasty, commander of Sevastopol Coast Guard Dept, the mayday signal from yacht Ales was received by one of Frontier Service coastal posts on Nov, 29 at 2.55 am. The yacht's shipmaster addressed to frontiersmen via VHF communicator and reported that the engine was out of operation and that the vessel suffered distress in severe gale conditions.

Having analyzed the situation, Capt 1 rank Andrei Myshasty decided to conduct a rescue operation. Coast guard ship Nikolayev headed by Capt 3 rank Ilya Zhibarev was dispatched to render help. The yacht rescue operation was commanded by Capt 2 rank Vladislav Smirnov, executive officer of Sevastopol Coast Guard Dept.

When the distress signal was received, the yacht was 12 miles off the shore, said Andrei Myshasty. The weather became worse at the time Nikolayev sailed off and started the search. The helpless yacht was floated away, so frontiersmen tried hard to find the distressed vessel. By that time, the 13-meter long yacht Ales was 22 miles off the shore. It was turned out later that the yacht sailed from Ochakov to Sevastopol and was only 7 miles away from the destination when the failure occurred.

The situation was complicated by a storm. Wind speed was about 30 meters per second.

"The yacht's sail was torn and the engine was failed", tells Capt 3 rank Oleg Lysiuk, deputy commander of Sevastopol Coast Guard Dept. "The vessel was in the grip of boisterous weather. The yachtsmen had to apply best efforts to belay towrope.

The vessel was towed to Sevastopol. Severe gale broke the towrope and it had to be belayed again. That needed masterful maneuvering in gale conditions.

Some time the storm was so heavy that frontiersmen were about to stop the operation, since the patrol ship was also in danger. Nonetheless, they did not give up because of three men on board the yacht. Experienced chief boatswain Snr WO Pavel Kovalev distinguished himself while towrope belaying.

The yachtsmen will remember that nightmare until death. They owe their lives to sea frontiersmen. Nikolayev managed to tow the yacht to Sevastopol at 11 am.

"Three yachtsmen have experienced a heavy stress, but now their health status is normal", said Oleg Lysiuk.

According to him, that was by no means the only precedent when frontiersmen rescue civil vessels. The same coast guard ship Nikolayev in 1998 salvaged the vessel named Aragon which bottomed the cliffs. Another patrol ship Poltava rescued a Turkish ship drifted three days before sending a distress signal.