DeLorme inReach initiates emergency medi-vac from Atlantic Odyssey Sailing Rally

Cocojet III. Picture courtesy of Cornell Sailing.

A participant in Cornell Sailing's Atlantic Odyssey had to be evacuated from his catamaran on Saturday. Nicolas Hauzy was attempting to fix a fault in the hydraulic steering on Cocojet III when he fell and broke his ankle. The crew of the catamaran immediately initiated the SOS function on their DeLorme inReach provided by Cornell Sailing, the race organisers.

Global Telesat Communications supplied inReach Satellite Trackers to the race organisers for last year's inaugural race to allow followers of the rally to keep an eye on race progress. It was hoped that the SOS button on the trackers would never be used. However, in this situation proved to be vital in alerting the organisers of the accident.

"Within minutes of the emergency message being received, the Atlantic Odyssey organisers and Cross Gris-Nez, the French Operational Rescue Center coordinating SAR operations, were in touch with the crew of Cocojet III to ascertain that there was no immediate risk to life or the boat." Cornell Sailing.

Nicolas was evacuated from the catamaran onto the nearby passenger cruise ship Saga Pearl II. The ship was able to divert their route to meet Cocojet III at 2300 UTC on Saturday 22 November.

For this event the SOS button diverts directly to emergency contacts set-up by the race organisers. As standard the SOS button would alert the GEOS Emergency Response Center. Next GEOS would then communicate with emergency contacts and initiate a rescue.

Atlantic Odyssey is an annual even organised by Cornell Sailing which left Lanzarote on Sunday 16 November bound for Martinique. Earlier in the trip Cocojet III posted a video showing a beautiful sunset and dolphins swimming alongside the catamaran:

We wish Nicolas a speedy recovery!