Because the unfortunate sailor had no emergency equipment such as a VHF radio or fireworks on board and his phone battery was empty, he had to hope for a passerby to notice him. “On the first day you may think that this will happen quickly, but if no one has passed by after two days, you panic and things go downhill quickly. Especially the nights, when you hardly sleep because of the cold, are terrible.”
Completely empty the boat
According to Bakker, it is therefore important to tackle the cold. “I would completely empty the boat in the first few hours. Then you still have energy. After that it becomes a lot more difficult. Think of tools, ropes, fuel, sticks, tape, but also the cushions and even the upholstery of the boat that you can heat. In fact, everything is usable.”
What exactly the man did to keep it going is also a mystery to Menno Betzema of the KNRM. “We are also curious about this and we hope that this man will contact us. We were not concerned with that at first.”
Watch the story of the KNRM rescuers from Andijk below: