Rescue operation: Missing wingfoiler off Hanstholm – rescued after 10 hours at sea

A rescue operation by the Danish coastguard, which lasted several hours, came to a successful conclusion on Monday evening. At around 10.00 pm, shortly before nightfall, the rescuers managed to pull a 61-year-old German wingfoiler out of the North Sea.

According to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Aarhus had previously been searching for the missing surfer for several hours. He is believed to have gone out onto the water on Monday morning, 27 July, in the Hanstholm area and has been missing ever since. A few hours after the search began, the surfer’s unattended wing was found west of Bulbjerg, but there was still no sign of the surfer himself. “The rescue services therefore set up search patterns in the water and continually expanded the search radius based on weather data,” explained Niels Kristensen, police superintendent with the local Thisted police force. Helicopters, boats and land vehicles were deployed in the operation.

The search proved successful shortly after 10 pm. A rescue helicopter was able to rescue the man from the North Sea off Lild Strand – around 20 kilometres downwind from his starting point, after around ten (!) hours at sea. The rescue therefore took place virtually at the last minute before nightfall. The surfer appears to be doing well considering the circumstances; he was taken to hospital in Aalborg suffering from hypothermia. The exact cause of the emergency – such as an accident or a technical fault – was not made clear in the official reports.

Safety tips for surfers

An emergency can never be completely ruled out, but there are ways to minimise the risk:

• Safety equipment: A Helmet as well as a Impact-protection vest can mitigate the worst impacts
• Technical aids: Emergency alerts can be sent via smartphone apps and GPS trackers; the user’s location is often transmitted at the same time, which can speed up the search
• Spot selection: No long shots at spots with a cross-shore wind

Have you ever been in an emergency situation and needed to be rescued? What safety measures do you personally take? And do you use any special safety tools, such as GPS trackers? Let us know in the comments!