Brittany Ferries vessel rescues distressed boater in Bay of Biscay

A boater who had gone adrift in the Bay of Biscay after his yacht had become disabled was rescued by the crew of a Brittany Ferries Ro-Pax vessel on Sunday, April 12.

The sailor, who was later identified as a 65-year-old French national, sent out a distress call at 01:40 local time on Sunday saying that his boat’s propulsion had suffered damage and that the vessel itself had begun taking on water some 278 kilometres west of Cap Ferret, France.

The Centres régionaux opérationnels de surveillance et de sauvetage (CROSS) station at Étel in Brittany received the distress call and duly issued a request for nearby vessels to render assistance to the distressed sailor.

Brittany Ferries’ 204-metre vessel Cap Finistère, which was en route from Bilbao to Portsmouth, was the first to arrive at the scene, and its crew took the boater aboard at around 05:50. He was later transferred ashore upon the ferry’s arrival in Portsmouth.

French maritime officials said that the boater had left France in February prior to that country’s imposition of sea travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The individual had embarked on a long-distance sailing project but later decided to return to Pornic in southeastern Brittany upon realising that all the ports along his intended route had been closed off to incoming vessels. He was sailing back to Pornic when the trouble began, prompting him to send the distress call.