Bernard Stamm - always good to get the story from the horse's mouth!

It seems the story abou the two sailors aboard the yacht Rivages (previously the Cheminées Poujoulat) off the Scillies last week was reported with some degree of inaccuracy in the media! 

Here is an interview with the skipper himself giving his account of the events that led up to the rescue - he was not competing in the Vendee but in facts sailing the boat home back across the Atlantic - he therefore had little choice about the weather that he found himself in that night! 

The yacht, Rivages has always been known as Cheminées Poujoulat since her official launch. The skipper Bernard Stamm of Swiss origin, but based in Brittany is a legend in round the world sailing having won two editions of the solo race with stopovers (Velux 5 Oceans / Around Alone) and was for ten years the holder of the solo transatlantic record. Wit an interesting Newlyn connection, his career took off thanks largely to the help of the fishing community in Lesconil, which helped him build his first racing boat. Boats like the Bugaled Breizh, Oceanide, Le Heidi and Kristel Vihan from this port have been regular visitors to Newlyn over the years often sheltering for weather.


Following on from the loss of their monohull Cheminées Poujoulat off the tip of Cornwall during the night, Bernard Stamm and Damien Guillou were recovered early this morning by a cargo vessel heading for Rotterdam. The Swiss skipper contacted by his press service explained what happened. 

Bernard, can you tell us about the accident? What exactly happened?

“Damien and I were sailing 200 miles off the tip of Cornwall around 180 miles from Brest. We were sailing downwind just ahead of the front. The wind was blowing at between 43 and 45 knots, but we were coping. We had prepared ourselves for this gale. We were already under storm sail with 4 reefs in the mainsail. In other words, we had the hand brake on, but crashing down on a wave the boat broke in two, just in front of the daggerboards. The mast didn’t come down immediately. We quickly closed all the watertight compartments and then the mast fell backwards. We quickly asked for help then organised our survival on board.”

What do you mean?

“We got ready to abandon the boat. The seas were high so we tried to work out how much damage there was likely to be to Cheminées Poujoulat. With Damien, I tried to free the mast of the 60-foot boat, but we couldn’t manage it. It was really too dangerous. However we managed to shift it enough so that it fell into the water and stopped banging into the hull. Straight after that, inside the boat we got together the survival gear. Obviously we didn’t know how much longer the boat would remain afloat.”

How did the rescue operation go?

“A Falcon 50 based in Hyères reached us at around 2330 hrs after refuelling in Bordeaux. They coordinated the rescue before a marine patrol plane took over around six this morning. Meanwhile, an attempt was made to lift us off by helicopter by the British rescue team on a Sea King. They asked us to put the raft in the water so that a diver could pick us up. We did that, but Damien and I just couldn’t get away from the boat. It was really dangerous, as we kept banging into the broken bow. In the end, we had to get back on board Cheminées Poujoulat leaving most of our water, survival kit, phone, rockets on the life raft. In other words, we had played our best cards.”

What happened next?

“The rescue team suggested we swim across to to try to pick us up directly in the water. Unfortunately that didn’t work either. Worse still, I found it really tough getting back aboard the boat. So for me it was a huge blow. After that, as we no longer had access to the sail hold where our second life raft is, five others were thrown out of the airplane, but ended up too far from us. Then the cargo ship arrived and manoeuvred to get alongside us. A line was thrown to us, but we almost got crushed against the cargo ship in the operation and meanwhile Cheminées Poujoulat was continuing to sink. The crew threw us another line as we found ourselves towards the stern section of the cargo vessel, standing on the transom, but we managed to catch it and block the boat. They then dropped down another line but we got thrown across the top of the coach roof. Damien came to a standstill, but I was thrown 80 metres into the water, sometimes going under, until I managed to grab the line. Damien was swimming alongside the cargo ship but thanks to a lifebuoy around him also managed to catch the line and get out of there. It was really close, as the seas were high and Cheminées Poujoulat at that point was almost entirely under the water. There was just a bit of the stern section sticking out with the bow hanging in front of the stays. It was really tough seeing her like that.”

Now safely aboard the cargo vessel Star Isfjord, you’re on your way to Rotterdam?

“Yes. The Filipino crew who came to our rescue showed incredible skill and are now on their way to the Netherlands, where we are due to arrive tomorrow evening. I’d like to thank all those who aided us during this huger rescue operation. From the bottom of my heart.”

Full story here:

Pre- turkey, why not Turbot ' truffle starter :-)

Two rescued from yacht in #Transat Race bu #rescue193 from Culdrose

Two men who were stranded in the Bay of Biscay next to their sinking boat have been saved from the ten metre high seas by RNAS Culdrose. Navy search and #rescue officers battled through last night’s torrential rain and gale force winds to save two men who were stranded 176 miles south west of Land’s End after their racing yacht broke in half. 

The rescue, which has been described as “very difficult” by Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, took a total of 12 hours. Falmouth #Coastguard were alerted to the yacht’s distress signal at 6.50pm last night.

Rescue officers from RNAS Culdrose were called to assist the two sailors, one who is Swiss the other who is French. The team, who were flying to the limit of their range, were assisted by a French naval light-wing aircraft. The stranded men were taking part in the #Transat Jaques Vabre yacht race when their yacht, Rivages, encountered difficulties. After problems with the mast, the 19 metre yacht broke in half in the gale force nine winds and ten metre waves. The men were found wearing survival suits in the sea. Unfortunately the conditions were too severe and the yacht too damaged for rescue teams to access the men. Fortunately the Star Isfjord, a Norwegian container ship, diverted 30 nautical miles to help. The two men were safely picked up at 6am and are now on board a merchant fishing vessel, heading to Rotterdam, where it is predicted that they will land a 12pm on Christmas day.

Ian Guy, Falmouth Coastguard watch manager, said: "This has been a very lengthy rescue and demanding rescue. The yacht was a long way from land and at the mercy of massive waves. "The helicopter crew did all that they could but the damage to the yacht made it impossible for them to winch the crew to safety. It’s thanks to the skill and dedication of the crew of the Star Isfjord that we can happily report that the crew of the yacht are now on their way home for Christmas.”

Read more: http://www.westbriton.co.uk/RNAS-Culdrose-save-pair-stranded-French-yacht/story-20361391-detail/story.html#ixzz2oNfn4Ylb Follow us: @thisiscornwall on Twitter

Something wrong somewhere......#cfpo #quotas #inequity

Hand's off our fish!

A DUTCH trawler that operates out of Hull has acquired almost a fifth of England’s entire fishing quota. The 370ft Cornelis Vrolijk controls 18% of the permits allocated to England. It specialises in herring, mackerel and blue whiting. It means this one trawler — which has 457,166 quota units — has a greater allocation than the entire Cornish fishing fleet, which has 174,483 units for 92 vessels and fishing organisations.

Details of the extraordinary dominance of the Cornelis Vrolijk have emerged in a list of the vessels and companies that control Britain’s fishing quota of 8m units. England has nearly 2.5m. The Sunday Times has campaigned for the quota register to be published in full and last week, for the first time, it was put online by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).



See Zembla - Wild West at Sea!

On board of the pelagic super-trawlers of the company Parlevliet and Van der Plas is 'fished by request'. An employee of the company tells ZEMBLA: 'It has already sold the fish, before it is caught anyway. If the fish does not have the height and weight as agreed, then the fish is thrown overboard. Dead.'

These are the kinds of boat we are talking about

Gravlax #xmastreats

Bit late starting the Gravlax this year!

Wight, Portland, Plymouth ....... increasing #storm force 11

Satellite view of the huge depression over the North Atlantic with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico feeding the storm!

Wind speeds from the Sevenstones Lightship at 10:30am on Monday courtesy of the NOAA

Gale 8                         41-47 mph 
Severe gale  9              48-55
Storm 10                     48-55  
Violent storm 11           56-63 
Hurricane 12                64+

Shipping Forecast for 6am Monday

Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay

Southwest 6 to gale 8, backing south or southwest gale 8 to storm 10, occasionally violent storm 11 later. Rough or very rough, becoming very rough or high later. Rain. Moderate or poor

Fitzroy

Southwest gale 8 to storm 10, occasionally violent storm 11 later. Very rough or high, becoming very high later in northwest. Rain. Moderate or poor

Sole, Lundy, Fastnet

Southwest veering west later, 7 to severe gale 9, occasionally storm 10. Very rough or high, becoming high or very high. Rain, squally showers later. Moderate or poor, occasionally good later

Irish Sea

Southwest, backing south for a time, 7 to severe gale 9, perhaps storm 10 later. Rough or very rough, becoming very rough or high later. Rain or showers. Moderate or good, occasionally poor

Shannon

Southwest 7 to severe gale 9, veering west severe gale 9 to violent storm 11 perhaps hurricane force 12 later. High or very high, perhaps phenomenal later. Rain or squally showers. Moderate or poor

Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey

South or southwest 5 to 7, becoming cyclonic gale 8 to storm 10, perhaps violent storm 11 later. High or very high. Rain or showers. Moderate or poor

Another huge low to hit the Uk on Christmas Eve #stormyweather

This stunning image is from http://earth.nullschool.net/ and is a composite image created by supercomputers from all round the world working together to create this almost live view (it is updated every 3 hours) of the world's weather systems - and given the forceast chart from the Met office...

this low is one of the lowest ever at a predicted 922...

dure to hit the country over Christmas Eve! - you really don't want to be fishing anywhere on the west coat of the UK over the next few days - wonder how many French and Spanish boats are out at Rockall and the Porcupine Bank at the moment keeping an eye on these depressions as they head across the Atlantic?