Is it a scene from a film, TV series, or a survival documentary? No, this poor sailor actually spent two and a half days stranded on an uninhabited Dutch island after his boat ran aground.
What started as a peaceful Friday evening sail turned into an unexpected survival challenge when the man’s anchor failed to hold near De Kreupel island on the IJsselmeer.
Strong winds pushed his boat onto the rocks, and it began sinking.
Stranded with no food, water, or supplies
Dutch maritime rescue station KNRM Andijk and the rescue service KNRM recounted the man’s ordeal in Facebook posts.
With no marifoon (maritime radio) or emergency flares in his supplies, and a dead phone battery, calling for help wasn’t an option.
Even worse? The man had no food, water, or shelter with him.
So he did what any resourceful sailor would do: fashioned a tent from his sail and waited. And waited. And waited. For two and a half days.
Helaas, with it being the end of the boating season and the weather predictably terrible, it was the absolute worst time for a solo-voyage-gone-wrong.
Rescue… at last!
No boats passed by until Sunday morning, when a yacht finally spotted the half-sunken wreck and alerted the Coast Guard.
KNRM Andijk’s rescue boat ‘t Span quickly sprang into action and retrieved the weakened man, who later admitted he thought he’d die there.
After a warm coffee, shower, and dry clothes at the KNRM Rescue Station Andijk, the sailor was taken to a hotel to process his unexpected island holiday.
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