A French navigator saved after spending sixteen hours under the hull of his boat

French skipper Laurent Camprubi has come a long way. He was rescued in extremis off the coast of northern Spain, after spending 16 hours under the hull of his sailboat. The navigator owes life to a 30 centimeter air pocket. “A rescue bordering on the impossible.” This is how Salvamento Marítimo – the Spanish sea rescue service – described on Facebook the rescue, on Tuesday, of the 62-year-old sailor from Marseille, whose boat had capsized the day before in the Atlantic, in the middle of the qualifying course for the Route du Rhum 2022.

According to Salvamento Maritimo, Laurent Camprubi was the day before 14 miles (22 kilometers) from the small archipelago of Sisargas, off Galicia (northwest of Spain), when he triggered his distress beacon. A search was quickly launched, which made it possible to locate his sailboat, the Jeanne Solo Sailor, tossed about by high waves and plunged into darkness. He was then “the keel upside down” and there was “no trace of its occupant”. On the spot, a ship and three helicopters had been dispatched, supported by a merchant ship.

One of the rescuers, dropped by a helicopter on the overturned sailboat, hit the hull. He perceived “backstrokes”who made him understand “that there was someone trapped inside”. Several other divers then joined the sailboat. There have been “screams and blows” on the hull and “emotion soared”explained two of them, Antonio Gómez and Andrés Pita, quoted by ‘Salvamento Marítimo’.

According to the skipper of the rescue vessel, Rodrigo Piñeiro, the conditions were difficult and it was necessary to work in a “frantic” to ensure that the sailboat does not sink. After several hours of effort, the divers managed to penetrate under the hull, where they saw a red boot. “The immediate reaction was to touch it and the foot instantly withdrew”explain the rescuers, who then stretched a pole in the cabin that Laurent Camprubi immediately grabbed.

Once outside, the skipper grabbed hold of the sailboat and turned to the divers, all smiles. “I knew they were there and they were going to rescue me, that they weren’t going to abandon me. It was a matter of time. I had to survive for myself and my family”, said Laurent Camprubi. He was then evacuated, unharmed, by helicopter.

The Frenchman presents himself on the Route du Rhum website as a solo racing enthusiast, and has several victories in regattas, including the Rolex Giraglia, in the Mediterranean. Juan Ferrer, chief of operations of the rescue service, pointed out that the sailor “was equipped with a special suit which prevented him from hypothermia”. But he also hailed his “acquaintances, which allowed him to calmly await our arrival”.