Rense (19) from Stadskanaal floats on the North Sea for 17 hours: ‘I tried to signal with my electric toothbrush’

Rense (19) left on Monday morning for a five-day sailing trip from Terschelling via Borkum to Stadskanaal. But just above Schiermonnikoog the boat flips over. “We saw the wave coming just before, but we couldn’t do anything about it.”

“I have a little muscle pain. Because of the bobbing on the sea I moved back and forth all the time and I caught the blows of the waves,” Rense says calmly from his parental home in Stadskanaal on Thursday morning. Because of the summer holidays, he and his college friend Cees (21) from Enkhuizen wanted to take their sailing boat from Terschelling to Stadskanaal.

High waves

They boarded early Monday morning in West-Terschelling. On Monday they sail past Ameland on the 6.5 meter long boat without any problems, until the sea becomes more turbulent and they feel higher waves and strong winds. “We saw the wave coming three seconds in advance, but we couldn’t do anything about it”, says Rense.

The men capsize, but manage to grab onto iron trestles on the side of the boat. They manage to tip the boat back and climb back on board. The mast is broken and the engine is slowly failing.

Survival suit on

Rense: „We already saw Schiermonnikoog lying there, so we tried to tie the sail in front of the boat so that we could still catch wind. Then we put on our survival suit. We already had a life jacket on.”

They do not succeed in reaching Schiermonnikoog: they cannot move forward with the improvised sail. Because of the wind and high waves they float past the peninsula. But calling for help is not an option, their phones have disappeared in the waves. Diligently Rense and Cees search for lights to signal for when it gets dark, without result. For the men there is nothing to do but wait. “We had expected that at best we would not be rescued until around midnight.”

Chocolate sandwich

“We were quite tired and had a short sleep the night before due to a school deadline,” says Rense. That is why he and Cees decide to alternate: one at the helm, to be able to make adjustments now and then, the other in the cabin to take a nap or have something to eat.

Fortunately, the food was still dry. “We brought nuts, sweets, fried sausages, chocolate and a bag of bread. I ate a sandwich with a Milka bar as a topping,” says Rense with a laugh.

Electric toothbrush

When night falls and the full moon begins to shine, Rense and his friend see a coastguard plane flying overhead. “We still couldn’t find any flashlights. I found my electric toothbrush with a red light in it, that was the brightest light we had. We also wanted to blow a horn very loudly, but they wouldn’t hear this from the plane anyway. ”

In the crosshairs

The rescue services are unable to find the floating boat at night. Still, the boys don’t lose heart. ,,Because of the full moon it was not too dark, there was sea spark and we saw the sun crossing the horizon in the morning. That was actually nice to see.”

Around seven o’clock the coast guard helicopter gets the yacht in sight. “That was a good moment,” says Rense. “Someone came on board with a line and spent three quarters of an hour with us until the lifeboat arrived. We are really grateful that the KNRM has searched for us on such a large scale.”

New sailboat

It is eleven o’clock when the KNRM delivers the boys safely to Eemshaven. Here they are awaited by emotional family and friends. There is not much left of the sailing boat due to the capsize and the towing across the Wadden Sea.

Rense does not yet know whether a new boat will be purchased: “I think my mother would like it if we took it easy for a while, but I really enjoy sailing. Perhaps there will be another one someday.”

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