Capsize at sea.
Documented capsize incidents from the Logbook — 23 records, each with sources, lessons, and the SeaWise procedures that address it.
← Search & filter the full LogbookA capsize puts crew in the water in an instant, often far from the boat and in cold that saps strength fast. The accounts here turn on flotation and being seen — a life jacket that kept someone on the surface, a crew spotted quickly from shore or air. Whether a capsize becomes a rescue or a recovery is usually decided before it happens, by what everyone was wearing.
High winds gusting near 38 mph capsized a sailboat carrying three adults on Clinton Lake, close to the dam tower west of Lawrence, Kansas, in 2026. One person swam to shore while the other two stayed with the upturned hull until a county fire crew reached them. All three were treated for cold exposure and none were hospitalised.
About 1:30 p.m. on Sunday 12 July 2026, a sailboat capsized in San Francisco Bay roughly half a mile east of San Francisco International Airport, near Coyote Point. Three people, all Foster City residents, were left clinging to the hull. San Mateo County Sheriff's Marine Unit deputies training nearby heard the call and pulled all three from the water. They were shaken and cold but unhurt.
Late on 27 June 2026, a couple moored to a buoy off Langholz in the Baltic's Eckernförde Bay went below in a thunderstorm; their sailboat broke loose and drifted. As DGzRS rescuers towed it in, a gust to force 10 capsized the boat and threw both into the water. The crew pulled the pair from the dark sea unhurt.
A sailboat capsized on Lake Erie off Bay Village, Ohio around 8 p.m. on 27 June 2026. A resident ashore saw two people in the water beside the overturned hull and called for help. A Westlake police drone found both — one had drifted about 40 feet from the boat — and an Ohio DNR boat brought them ashore. Both were wearing life jackets and were unharmed.
On the stormy night of 27–28 June 2026, a couple sheltered below on their sailboat, made fast to a mooring buoy in Eckernförde Bay on the western Baltic. The mooring failed and the boat drifted; a DGzRS lifeboat found them aboard and began a tow. Then a second thunderstorm hit with gusts to force 10, capsized the boat under tow, and threw both into the dark water — the lifeboat crew pulled both out unhurt within minutes.
On 11 March 2026, a 44-foot catamaran capsized in open Pacific seas off Maupiti, in French Polynesia, with three people aboard. A distress beacon triggered the alert — two crew clung to the upturned hull and one waited in a deflating liferaft. A French military aircraft air-dropped survival gear, and a merchant ship about 13 hours away diverted and recovered all three, one of them injured, before carrying them on to New Zealand.
On 4 May 2026, a yacht struck the southern breakwall at the mouth of the Richmond River near Ballina, on the New South Wales coast. A Marine Rescue NSW boat with six volunteers crossed the notorious Ballina Bar in treacherous seas to help — and capsized. Three people died: two volunteer rescuers and the man from the yacht. Four other crew reached shore with minor injuries.
On a Saturday in late May 2026, a German family — father, mother and their seven-year-old child — were sailing a catamaran near Riva del Garda, on northern Lake Garda, when it ran onto rocks and capsized in the lake's strong winds. Another sailor alerted the coast guard, and a rescue boat from Torbole recovered all three unharmed. The damaged catamaran was salvaged later by a local sailing school.
Around midday on Monday 29 June 2026, a sailboat capsized on the Traunsee near Traunkirchen in Upper Austria. The single person aboard stayed with the boat and was recovered unhurt by fire and water-rescue crews, who ended the operation after about 45 minutes. The cause of the capsize was not established.
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.
On the morning of 27 June 2026, the Penghu-registered yacht 'Daily Ocean' took on water in rough seas about two nautical miles off Dongji Islet, then lost power and capsized on a diving outing. All four aboard, including a captain surnamed Lee, went into the water and were pulled out by the nearby fishing vessel 'San Chuan Fa' before the coast guard arrived.
On Saturday 16 May 2026, a sudden strong gust capsized a sailboat on the Lippesee, a lake near Paderborn in Germany, putting its three-person crew into the water. A DLRG rescue boat already on patrol nearby reached them quickly and brought all three out of the water safely. No injuries were reported.
On the night of 12 April 2026, a sailboat overturned at the entrance to Oceanside Harbor, California, spilling its two occupants into strong currents and breaking surf. Oceanside lifeguards aboard a Marine Safety vessel pulled both from the water. One person was taken to hospital in stable condition and the other was treated at the scene; neither was seriously hurt.
Around 1 a.m. on 17 June 2025, the Australian racing catamaran Rushour — leading the Groupama Race — capsized in deteriorating weather off the Belep Islands, north of New Caledonia, when its six crew lost control. Two distress beacons were set off. After a roughly 12-hour search, a military aircraft and a Puma helicopter located the drifting hull and hoisted all six crew to safety; no one was lost.
On 30 December 2025, in strong wind off Whananaki, Northland, a catamaran near Elizabeth Reef rolled and capsized, finishing upside down. The solo, experienced skipper was left on the overturned hull about 2-3 km offshore. Local boatie and surf lifeguard Gordon Pengelly launched his own small boat with a neighbour and pulled the skipper to safety. The skipper was unharmed; the catamaran later washed ashore at Sandy Bay, and his lifejacketed dog went missing.
On the stormy first night of the Transat Café L'Or, 25–26 October 2025, the Ocean Fifty trimaran Inter Invest capsized in roughly 25-knot winds and 2.5-metre seas off the Cotentin, near Guernsey — one of three Ocean Fifties to flip that night. All the skippers were rescued safely, some winched out by helicopter in the dark. The light, fast trimarans proved vulnerable to the gusts.
Before dawn on 19 August 2024 the sailing yacht Bayesian was knocked down and foundered in a sudden, violent windstorm half a nautical mile off Porticello, Sicily. Of the 22 people aboard, seven died. The MAIB's interim report found the yacht was vulnerable to high winds and that, once heeled past about 70 degrees, recovery was impossible.
Three of the four crew were thrown from the cockpit of the 10.8 m yacht Mollie Louise when she was knocked down in heavy seas 25 nm off the Humber estuary; all wore lifejackets but no safety lines, and one of the three died before the rescue helicopter recovered them.
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.
Italian-built 54 ft carbon racer; keel fastenings gave way en route Maldives → Red Sea, the yacht inverted in under 30 seconds — the couple drifted nine days in a leaking liferaft before a Belgian tug spotted them.
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 2 July 2005 the small sailing dinghy Mollyanna capsized off Puffin Island, North Wales, in force 5–6 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 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.