Incidents in the North Atlantic.
Documented sailing emergencies in the North Atlantic β 59 records, each with sources, lessons, and links to the SeaWise procedures involved. Search by the water you're about to sail.
β Search & filter the full LogbookBetween 22 and 24 August 2026 the Portuguese Navy coordinated the rescue of two French sailors from their yacht about 484 nautical miles north-east of Sao Miguel in the Azores. The boat was drifting with serious mast damage and no steering. A Spanish fishing vessel took the pair off, and they were later transferred to a Greek tanker in good health. The yacht was left behind.
On 17 August 2026 a Brittany Ferries crew found the 13 m yacht Anaho 2 drifting and empty about 100 km west of the Ile d'Yeu, two days after her 71-year-old skipper had left Arzal alone for Cape Verde. No beacon had been triggered. Air searches found only her empty tender. She sank the next evening and the search was called off.
Before dawn on 8 July 2026, a sailboat carrying two adults and six children began taking on water off Fort Monroe, at the mouth of the Chesapeake near Hampton, Virginia. The crew reached Hampton Police and the Coast Guard; a Hampton fire boat and the Coast Guard converged on the position around four in the morning. All eight aboard were rescued, with no injuries reported.
On the afternoon of 11 October 2026 the German-flagged sailboat Hai Hamburg, a 14 m two-master with three people aboard, ran aground on a sandbank at the mouth of the Minho River as she left Caminha, Portugal. The Maritime Police took all three to Caminha harbour. Nobody was hurt.
On 18 October 2026 a 26 ft catamaran capsized about five miles south of Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, in the Florida Keys, with a small craft advisory in effect. The four aboard sent a mayday on VHF channel 16 and clung to the hull until a Coast Guard crew from Station Marathon took them off. Nobody was hurt.
Late on 4 October 2026 a fire broke out aboard a sailboat about 5 nautical miles north-west of Cabo da Roca, Portugal. The skipper, a 69-year-old Swede sailing alone, left in the dinghy and called 112. A Portuguese Navy patrol ship found the yacht empty, then picked him up unhurt.
The 60-foot sailing yacht Scotch Mist flooded through a deteriorating propeller-shaft seal about 170 nautical miles south of Block Island, Rhode Island. A Coast Guard aircraft dropped a dewatering pump while the cutter William Chadwick diverted and took all four crew aboard, treating them for shock and hypothermia. No lives were lost.
On the evening of 14 February 2026 the 37-foot sailing yacht Chusan ran aground on rocks near Winyah Bay, off Georgetown, South Carolina. The skipper radioed for help around 6:16 p.m., and a Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter hoisted him and his dog to safety at Georgetown Airport with no injuries.
On 1 July 2026 a 44-foot yacht ran aground off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland's Firth of Clyde, in an area local coverage called a notorious grounding blackspot. Largs RNLI launched and took all five people aboard to safety. No injuries were reported.
On 25 July 2026, a 44-year-old man fell overboard from a catamaran off BarbΓ’tre, Γle de Noirmoutier, France. He swam himself to shore while his companion sailed the boat back in. A two-hour search involving a helicopter, an SNSM lifeboat, and firefighters was mobilised before he was found safe and released without hospital transport.
Early on 10 October 2026 a 30 ft sailboat with one man aboard took on water and sank in Woods Hole Passage, off Falmouth, Massachusetts. He was wearing a life jacket. A Coast Guard crew from Station Woods Hole pulled him from the water. He was checked for hypothermia and was not hurt.
On 30 September 2026 a Norwegian sailor crossing alone from Bergen in a 9 m yacht found her taking on more and more water in strong southeasterly winds and heavy swell, about 14 nautical miles east of Whalsay, Shetland. Lerwick lifeboat took him off, uninjured, while a trawler gave shelter. The yacht was abandoned.
On 8 February 2026, a 32-year-old American crew member aboard the sailboat Lena Rae, about 850 nautical miles off Recife, Brazil, developed acute chest pain and shortness of breath during an Atlantic crossing. A merchant ship diverted to collect him, a Brazilian Navy vessel carried him within range, and a Brazilian Air Force helicopter flew him to hospital in Natal on 12 February.
On 1 October 2026 a catamaran capsized about three miles off Craigville Beach in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Both men aboard were in the water in life jackets and called police on a phone sealed in a plastic bag. A police boat found them 200 yards from the hull. Neither was hurt.
Early on 21 June 2026, a single-handed 57-year-old French sailor radioed the Azores rescue centre at about 4 a.m. with his boat in difficulty off the southwest coast of Faial, near Varadouro. He got himself off the boat and onto the rocks before help arrived, but the sea was too rough to lift him off until 8:45 a.m. A lifeboat recovered him and he was taken to hospital in Horta, exhausted but alive; the boat grounded.
Late on 21 July 2026, the crew of a 15-metre yacht anchored in Loch Spelve, Isle of Mull, called a mayday after their anchor chain fouled the propeller and rudder, fearing they'd drag ashore. Oban RNLI's lifeboat found the anchor holding, took the crew off as a precaution, and brought them back to Oban overnight. No one was hurt.
In September 2026 a German sailboat with two aboard, on passage to the Caribbean, suffered a breakdown off Asturias and was carried by the tide onto the rocks at Concha de Artedo, Cudillero. The hull was damaged; both crew were unhurt. A later headline reports she was got off successfully.
On 21 June 2026 a 57-year-old Frenchman sailing alone off Faial in the Azores called for help at 0400 in difficulty. Heavy seas delayed the Horta lifeboat, so he was not lifted off until 0845, by then exhausted, and was taken to hospital. The yacht he left behind then drifted for about ten days before grounding.
After an overnight passage from Portland, Maine, the sailboat Blue Rider struck the inside of the East Jetty while entering Nantucket Harbor just after midnight on 12 June 2026. On a very high, nearly moonless tide the jetty was almost submerged and difficult to see. The three people aboard were unhurt; Coast Guard Station Brant Point and the Nantucket harbormaster responded, and Tow Boat US pulled the boat clear by morning.
A sailing yacht ran aground on rocks at the entrance to Port Bourgenay, in the VendΓ©e, with a couple and their two dogs aboard, in difficult conditions. A French Navy helicopter hoisted the couple off, and a diver boarded twice to recover the dogs; everyone was unhurt. The yacht was left abandoned on the rocks.
Around dawn on 16 June 2026, a catamaran about five nautical miles southwest of Barbate, in the Gulf of CΓ‘diz near the Strait of Gibraltar, reported an interaction with Iberian orcas. Spain's Salvamento MarΓtimo advised the crew to make for shallower water and stay safe aboard, asked a nearby fishing boat to stand by, and the rescue craft Salvamar Enif towed the catamaran into Barbate. The crew were unharmed.
On Friday 13 February 2026, the Dutch-flagged Bavaria 45 Vlie struck an unidentified submerged object off Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, and flooded so fast that she sank in about five minutes. All five aboard got into the liferaft, and a Spanish rescue helicopter lifted them to safety roughly 45 minutes later. The exact cause was not confirmed, but the underwater impact was blamed for the catastrophic flooding.
On a Friday evening in early May 2026, the 30-foot sailboat Jenny Lee ran aground and began flooding off Coffins Beach, near the mouth of the Essex River in Massachusetts. The boat's emergency beacon alerted the Coast Guard, and local crews rescued the two men aboard β brothers, 28 and 30 β and their small dog. Both men were treated for hypothermia; the dog was unharmed.
In late January 2026, a yacht capsized in the Atlantic off the Cabo Verde islands with three Lithuanian sailors aboard, the only people on board. A satellite SOS reached Spain's sea-rescue service, and the tanker Ouro do Brasil recovered the three from the sea: two alive, with skin burns but otherwise apparently well, and one already dead. The survivors were landed at Cabo Verde.
In late May 2026 off northwest Morocco, two French sailors believed their catamaran was sinking from water ingress and abandoned it for their dinghy. The catamaran never sank β it was found still afloat off Tangier and towed empty into Asilah, raising fears the pair were lost. In fact they spent four days and nights adrift in the dinghy before a merchant ship found and rescued them alive on 28 May. Both survived.
On Monday 22 June 2026, a man aboard a sailboat that had become disabled about 100 miles offshore of Charleston, South Carolina, was assisted by the US Coast Guard. The cutter Vigorous took the boat under tow, later transferring it to the cutter Coho, and the sailboat was ultimately handed to a commercial salvage crew near Mayport, Florida. The sailor was safe; the cause of the breakdown was not reported.
Just after 1 pm on 5 June 2026, a sailboat ran onto the Plateau des BΕufs at the Roches du Devin, a rocky shoal west of Γle de Noirmoutier in France. The grounding hit hard enough to snap the mast. All three people aboard were rescued.
A 25-foot sailboat ran aground off Castle Island in South Boston on a Thursday, and the two people aboard were rescued from the cold harbour water and treated for hypothermia. Details are limited, but the pattern is a common one: a small boat aground close to a busy shore, with cold water the real danger.
Around midnight on 21 August 2026 a French sailing catamaran on delivery from the Mediterranean to France ran onto the Praia Norte breakwater at Viana do Castelo, northern Portugal, and was destroyed. Her two crew got ashore by their own means, uninjured. The cause is under investigation.
In November 2025 the sailing yacht Magic Bus, bound from Stonington, Connecticut to the Bahamas, began flooding about 260 nautical miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Her five crew abandoned into a life raft, were located by a Coast Guard HC-130, and were all lifted off by an MH-60 helicopter β refuelled via the carrier USS George H.W. Bush β unhurt.
On 5 August 2025, three years into a round-the-world voyage, the 74-year-old skipper of the New Zealand yacht Mollie was killed when he was drawn onto a powered winch about 2.8 miles off the Needles, Isle of Wight. Clearing a rope left turned around the faulty electric winch, his hand was caught and the winch pulled him onto the drum. An RNLI crew freed him, but he died of crush injuries.
On 14 November 2025 at the mouth of the Tagus near Lisbon, the yacht Surf β two Belgians aboard, bound for Cascais β reported manoeuvring trouble at the bar entrance around 05:40 but declined help, saying they would wait for morning. By 07:18 the yacht was drifting, and it grounded off AlgΓ©s. Both crew were rescued by 08:55, unhurt but mildly hypothermic; the boat awaited a tow.
The 40 ft J/122 Alliance struck a submerged object in the Gulf Stream around 2:45 a.m. on the third day of the 2024 Newport Bermuda Race, roughly 300 nm from land; she flooded and was lost, but all nine aboard were taken off by two competing boats that answered the Mayday.
HISTORICAL (Nov 2023). During Storm CiarΓ‘n, a Norwegian sailor's yacht was critically damaged about 700 miles off south-west England. He sent a distress call late on 2 November 2023, and an RAF A400M Atlas and a Poseidon MRA1 flew far offshore to find him and coordinate a rescue well beyond helicopter range.
Around 2 November 2023, during a major European storm, a Norwegian-registered sailing yacht with a man aboard lost both masts in the open Atlantic far west of Cornwall and sent a distress call. British and French aircraft launched, and the RAF, with HM Coastguard, lifted the lone sailor to safety early that Friday. He was landed in England and treated for his injuries in what rescuers called one of their hardest missions.
Forestay failure under reduced sail in 38 kt of wind; the crew of three cut the wreckage clear and made Brest under jury rig over three days.
In thick fog on 21 October 2018 the ro-ro ferry Red Falcon lost orientation in Cowes Harbour, left the channel and spun through 220Β°. Disorientated, her master drove the ferry the wrong way and collided with the moored yacht Greylag, sinking it on its mooring. The MAIB found the master became fixated on his electronic chart and cognitively overloaded, and that the risk to people sleeping aboard moored yachts had not been adequately managed.
On Sunday 8 June 2014, the 31-foot Moody sailing yacht Orca was struck by the dredger Shoreway about 7 miles off Felixstowe, England, and sank within minutes. The dredger's bow-mounted equipment hid the yacht until seconds before impact, and neither vessel was keeping a proper lookout. Orca's skipper was pulled from the water by the dredger's rescue boat; his wife drowned in the sunken yacht.
The 40 ft Beneteau First Cheeki Rafiki lost its keel and capsized 720 nm SE of Nova Scotia during a delivery passage; four British crew lost.
On 28 May 2011, the commercially operated Beneteau 40.7 Liquid Vortex was racing the Myth of Malham in Lyme Bay when she suffered an accidental gybe that seriously injured one crew member. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch found that the skipper had driven the boat and crew hard, when β with many of the novice crew tired and seasick in demanding conditions β a more cautious and encouraging approach was warranted.
At 0027 on a dark, rough night on 18 June 2011, the skipper of the Reflex 38 racing yacht Lion went over the bow 14.5 miles south of Selsey Bill β wearing a lifejacket and clipped on. Still attached by his 1.8 m tether, he was towed at 9 knots, pinned against the leeward side, before the crew could slow the boat. It took 16 minutes to recover him to deck, where he was pronounced dead.
On the evening of 16 April 2007, the sailing yacht Whispa collided with the LPG carrier Gas Monarch in dense fog about 6 miles ESE of Lowestoft. No one was hurt on either vessel, and the yacht's damage was minor at first, but progressive flooding worsened it as a lifeboat towed her to Lowestoft. The MAIB found that both vessels had broken the collision-avoidance rules and misused their radars in the fog.
On 22 August 2007, 2.5 miles southwest of St Alban's Head, the Elan 333 cruiser-racer Buccaneer of Upnor gybed inadvertently while an inexperienced helmsman struggled to hold course in a northerly force 5-6 gusting 7. During the gybe the mainsheets swept the mate against the edge of the coachroof, causing fatal injuries. There were six people aboard, on a delivery passage from Plymouth to Gosport.
Late on 2 February 2007 the owner and four crew sailed the Max Fun 35 yacht Hooligan V from Plymouth toward Southampton after out-of-season repairs. At about 0320 the next morning, 10 miles south of Prawle Point, her fabricated steel keel detached and the yacht capsized without warning, killing one crew member. The MAIB traced the failure to fatigue cracking at a keel weld, worsened by design flaws and 160 kg of ballast added in 2005 without re-engineering.
On the night of 20 August 2006 the yacht Ouzo sailed from Bembridge, Isle of Wight for Dartmouth with her three regular crew, and was lost after an encounter with the ro-ro passenger ferry Pride of Bilbao. The yacht was never found. All three crew were recovered from the sea over the following days, in inflated lifejackets and good yachting clothing β but with no means to raise the alarm, none survived.
On the night of 6 February 2006, the 13.28 m wooden sailing yacht Ile D Yeu, with three aboard, was sunk in a collision with the coastal chemical tanker Dutch Progress about 4 miles east of Whitby. The tanker's officer had seen the yacht's red light at 4 miles but took no compass bearing or radar plot, and could not acquire the small wooden yacht on either radar. All three crew survived; the yacht was lost.
David Cottle was washed overboard during gale-force conditions and recovered by a Liberian-registered tanker after 70 minutes in the water.
On 21 June 2006, during a sailing-club race off Holyhead, the skipper of the 8-metre yacht Huw Jars fell overboard. He was not wearing a lifejacket. The crew recovered him within about ten minutes, but he had drowned. The MAIB urged the club to require lifejackets, ensure a competent backup crew member can take over if the skipper goes over or is incapacitated, and establish man-overboard procedures and equipment.
In heavy winds in Southampton Water on 20 May 2006, the IMX 38 racing yacht Roaring Meg of Cowes suffered two accidental gybes on the same passage, seriously injuring two of her crew. The accident, near Hamble Point, was investigated by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch.
On the night of 17 March 2006, during a delivery of the 9 m yacht Pastime from Hamble to Plymouth, the delivery skipper went overboard at about 2330 β not wearing his lifeline. Electrical failures had knocked out the GPS, and the VHF soon stopped working, so the owner could not pass a position. Three RNLI lifeboats, five merchant ships and a coastguard helicopter searched; the skipper's body and the yacht were eventually found.
Soon after leaving her Portsmouth berth on 16 April 2005, a smoke alarm sounded in the forward cabin of the 14 m coded charter yacht Inseyandra, ten aboard. Spare sails and kit stowed around the bow-thruster motor had displaced a metal cover onto a power terminal; using the thruster caused a short circuit that set the gear alight. The crew put the fire out with a dry-powder extinguisher and diverted to a marina. No one was hurt.
On 2 July 2005 the small sailing dinghy Mollyanna capsized off Puffin Island, North Wales, in force 5β6 winds and 1.5-metre seas. It inverted and could not be held upright. The owner died within about ten minutes; his son and two grandsons clung to the hull for over an hour until a charter fishing boat found them. The youngest child also died. The dinghy failed the buoyancy and stability standard for its design category.
On 2 June 2005 the 277 m container ship OOCL Malaysia was outbound from Southampton when the pilot saw the 6.7 m wooden yacht Ibis about to enter the moving prohibited zone ahead. A launch was sent to tell Ibis to hold clear, but her singlehanded skipper tacked, lost the wind, and was caught in the ship's path. He jumped clear and was picked up by the launch; Ibis was run down and foundered. No one was hurt.
On 21 June 2005, ending a delivery from southeast Spain to Ipswich, the 11.2 m sailing yacht Siesta ran aground at night on the Long Sand in the Thames Estuary. After attempts to heel and motor her off failed, the skipper went over the side with a rope around his waist to lay a kedge anchor; the line fouled the propeller and dragged him under. A crewman freed him, but he died despite a helicopter evacuation.
While anchored in the Comber River near Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, the 7.9 m yacht Pinocchio dragged her anchor until her masthead touched overhead 11,000-volt power cables on 3 June 2004. The owner received an electric shock with burns to his right hand and arm, and the yacht caught fire and was completely destroyed.
At 1100 UTC on 28 May 2003, the container ship P&O Nedlloyd Vespucci and the yacht Wahkuna collided in poor visibility in the English Channel, and the yacht sank. The MAIB found a chain of failures: the yacht's skipper misread which collision rules apply in fog, the ship's master over-trusted his radar and accepted a small passing distance, neither vessel kept an effective radar lookout, and the ship was travelling too fast for the conditions.
A sailing student was knocked overboard by the boom when the Etchells 22 keelboat Wahoo gybed accidentally off Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. Two instructors following in a diesel launch could not recover him from the water; though he at first reported no injuries, he quickly tired, lost consciousness, and β despite continuous resuscitation β was later declared dead.
On 7 August 1999 the yacht Bluebell of Warsash was struck on her starboard side by the bulbous bow of an unidentified ship about 23 miles south of The Needles, Isle of Wight. One of the four crew threw himself over the side just before impact and was recovered; three crew were injured, two airlifted to hospital. The yacht reached the Needles, met an RNLI lifeboat, and was towed to Yarmouth. The ship was never identified.
On 8 October 1997 the yacht Ocean Madam capsized during heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay. One of her three crew lost his life; the two survivors were rescued by a French naval helicopter. The loss was investigated by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch.