FV MADELEINE

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Trawler saved distressed kayaker after 12 days from buoy

The crew of the 'Madeleine-BL936072'rescued an English kayaker from a buoy in the English Channel on Oct 27, 2022, at around 11 a.m. The man has been missing since October 15. He had kept himself alive by eating mussels, seaweed and crabs that he scraped from the buoy. He was discovered by chance while the ship was sailing past the Colbart buoy and the alert skipper Teunis de Boer remarking him while fishing for mullet, red gurnard and squid. When filling in the electronic logbook, he suddenly saw something move on thebuoy. He grabbed his binoculars and saw someone in a bathing suit on the buoy, swaying like crazy. The ship gave a sound signal to show that the crew had seen him. There was quite a lot of current, so it sailed towards the buoy with the bow in the current. When they were about ten meters from the buoy, they threw life buoys in the water, and he caught it. The crew managed to get the hypothermic man on board, his body temperature was only 26 degrees, he was very weak, nauseous and totally exhausted. He was cared for on board and his body temperature rose again to normal values. The French coast guard first brought a doctor on board with a helicopter. The man was later taken by helicopter to a hospital in France. The kayaker had left Dover for France on Oct 15, but capsized on the way. It was not yet clear how many days he spent on the buoy. Reports with photos and video: https://visserij.nl/2022/10/27/urker-vissers-redden-vermiste-man-van-kuip-in-kanaal-video/ https://nos.nl/artikel/2449978-urker-visser-redt-man-na-dagen-van-boei-in-het-kanaal-een-wonder