rescue

Caligari, Sardinia, Italy - "If you go overboard, you're dead."  Some form of that is the mantra of many an ocean sailor, and particularly solo sailors.  The idea is to stay on the boat, no matter what.  So on Friday, during the solo (singlehanded) Cap Istanbul Race, when Matthieu Girolet came upon competing boat SIRMA flogging in the darkness with a torn spinnaker, the horror of what had happened was soon obvious.  SIRMA was empty, and her skipper Christophe Bouvet was somewhere out in the darkness, lost at sea.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY - The Coast Guard, working in partnership with the San Francisco Fire Department, responded to a boat fire one mile east of Treasure Island yesterday evening. The three people aboard were rescued by another bay area boater, and returned safely to shore with no reported injuries. The boat however was toast.

Tillymint, an Oyster 82 yacht taking part in a round the world yacht rally, has been involved in the dramatic rescue of a stranded Caribbean fisherman while sailing to Panama.

The man was rescued from a small open fishing vessel, the Vegas from St.Lucia, which had been drifting for over 20 days without a serviceable engine on the open sea.