A Canadian sailor who was taking his boat from Malaysia to the Caribbean has been rescued off Madagascar, along with two crew members, after the boat took on water and sank.

Published 3 years ago

Source:  Global News Canada

Casper Venter was sailing Lorrigray II from Langkawi to the Caribbean when the steel boat started to leak during a storm in the Mozambique Channel.

Venter told news agency Global News Canada from his home town of Calgary, that the incident occurred on March 19, 2022, and with water coming in faster than they could pump it out, they turned the boat around and tried to sail back to Madagascar.

“We tried to see if we could keep it afloat long enough that we might make it to land, ” he said.  “But when we realized that the ocean was the same level as the deck, we stepped into the life raft. Shortly after, we saw the mast go behind the waves and it was gone. We couldn’t see it anymore, it just went down.”

Venter and his two crewmates were stuck on a life raft less than two metres long and spent a wet and miserable 14 hours bobbing in the giant waves, before they were rescued by an oil tanker and taken to the island of Mayotte, north of Madagascar.

“We got a lot of water in the life raft.  Waves were banging on us through the night so it was definitely hair raising. The life raft is designed for it so from that point of view it was OK. We were all quite seasick,” Venter said.

The Canadian Coast Guard was one of three agencies that responded to the team’s call for help. The closest ship was a Russian oil tanker 150 nautical miles away, which was diverted to rescue the sailors.

Crew members on the Petalouda supplied the rescued men with dry clothes, food and a lift to Mayotte.

“They all came and took pictures with us and congratulated us on our second birthdays as they called it. Basically a new lease on life,” Venter said.

Venter said he’s  already planning his next sea adventure, thankful for the teamwork of the sailors aboard that oil tanker.

“They were working perfectly together, in perfect harmony, and like the captain said to us right from the start, they’re not interested in politics. They are sailors. It was amazing to see that it can be done,” Venter said.

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