And a dramatic video Rescue shows a Spanish search and rescue diver hitting the bottom of the boat and listening for signs of life. After being rescued on Tuesday, Camprubi, 62, said he was able to survive thanks to an air bubble. Spanish coast guard and media reports.
The sailor said he was shocked when he realized the extent of the damage to his boat – a shattered mast, a destroyed boom, keel and most equipment gone.
“I couldn’t understand how I survived,” said Camprubi of Marseille. He told the Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia.. “Conditions were very unfavorable.”
Camprubi sailed from Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, on a 40-metre boat on Sunday. according to Reuters. He was participating in a qualifying race for the upcoming transatlantic solo sailing competition Route du Rhum, held every four years.
He had arrived in Fisterra in the west on Monday. Spain, where he encountered strong winds and three-metre waves and soon realized that his boat had lost its keel. A beam running down the middle of the boat, he said in an interview with La Voz de Galicia.
“I was trying to pull the mainsail when the boat started to tilt,” he told the newspaper. “So I went in without much thought and within 15 seconds the boat capsized.”
in a rescue mission defined as “on the verge of the impossible” Rescuers struggled with choppy seas. Vicente Cobelo, a member of the coast guard special operations team, laSexta told the TV station When the rescuer hit the boat Monday night to see if there were any survivors, he got a response.
“We knew then that there was someone underneath,” he said.
But the waters were too rough to attempt rescue. So the team had to wait until the next morning to try again.
Camprubi said he used the air bubble to breathe while waiting for help and tried not to panic. Told La Voz de Galicia The thought of never seeing his wife and children again helped him survive this ordeal.
He added that the air bubble is about 27 inches long. On Monday it shrunk drastically but overnight. Tuesday was full of water and he knew he was running out of time. “But he remained calm,” he said.
“I never panicked,” he told La Voz de Galicia. “I tried to see the truth and find solutions. I was afraid of never seeing my children again.”
Coast guard officials swam under two divers on Tuesday, slipping under the boat to rescue the sailor wearing a survival suit who was submerged up to his knees in water.
Coast guard officer Cobelo told reporters that when the divers approached the boat, the sailor jumped into the ice-cold water and swam out from under the boat to get to the surface.
“He got into the water on his own initiative and freedied with the help of divers who had to pull him out because it was difficult to get out with his survival suit,” Cobelo told laSexta TV station.
He was seen on video just Tuesday afternoon, when rescuers pulled him to safety.
Camprubi, an experienced sailor who has participated in many local and international competitions, told La Voz de Galicia that his experience made him decide not to race professionally anymore.
“I don’t want to risk my life anymore,” he said. “I just want to take care of my family.”
