A German sailor, Martin Daldrup, rescued from the South Atlantic has profusely thanked all those involved in the effort to save his life. The YouTuber seemingly spent 18 hours adrift from his holed Bavaria 34 Holiday, before being rescued.

Daldrup has risen to fame for documenting his sailing adventures on YouTube. His book To the Horizon and Beyond documents his previous adventures. This time he was crossing from New York to South Africa single handedly.

He’s issued two statements on Facebook describing the incident and thanking those who came to his aid.

“I had to abandon Jambo due to severe water break for unknown reason,” he writes. “After that it’s dramatic and hard hours for me and almost 18 hours in my rescue island, I’m waiting freezing for rescue.”

He was picked up by a freight carrier, Alanis, where he says the welcome and first aid he received (for mild hypothermia) were exemplary.

“Countless people and many organisations have been involved in my rescue,” says Daldrup. “That’s why I would like to thank everyone who contributed.” He cites the Bremen Rescue team, The Brazilian maritime rescue service, the Alanis crew, a shipyard, many other organisations and people that were active in the background that he didn’t even know about, and Anke (his partner) and Chris (who seemingly pulled strings for him in Germany).

“Having to give up my Jambo is really hard for me,” he says. “Many years I sailed with her and experienced so much with her. I have lovingly equipped the Jambo over the years and invested a lot of time, work and money into it. Finally she was finished, I was able to sail with her for a very long time and she has been a cozy and comfortable home to me. Almost 7000nm sailed with her from New York without technical problems.

“Most wonder how things will go next. I don’t know that yet. I need to digest this first. But I think I will be sailing again.

“I’m guessing an underwater collision tore the rudder apart and also a hole in the hull at the stern. Hence the loud bang.”

Daldrup says it was wind force 5, when the bang came. At first he couldn’t detect anything but he could hear water.

“I look into the living room and the water is already above the floor boards.” He says he Immediately turned on the bilge pump and added a 220v submersible pump. He was getting another pump out of the box but by this time, he says, the water was 20 cm higher despite the two running pumps.

“So the boat is sinking too fast.

“I throw the life island in the water and thankfully it’s standing after a short time.”

In the Corona summer of 2020, Daldrup sailed his Bavaria 34 Holiday alone from Martinique to Helgoland. According to Bavaria Yachts, it took 42 days and the voyage was not actually planned, but had to be sailed this way due to the circumstances caused by the corona pandemic.

Main image courtesy of Martin Daldrup via Facebook.

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