Female skipper lost overboard

Search and rescue mission mounted to find Sabine Juettner-Storp, competing in the Baltic Sprint Cup

On Monday there was a dramatic emergency in the offshore regatta Baltic Sprint Cup.

During the race’s second leg from Rønne on the island of Bornholm/Denmark to Vaestervik in Sweden, the female skipper of the German yacht DHH Cross-Match, Sabine Juettner-Storp, fell overboard. A search and rescue was immediately instigated, coordinated by the Danish SAR rescue centre. In addition to a Swedish rescue helicopter and two rescue boats, 15 other yachts from the regatta fleet took part in the search, but without success when darkness fell.

The second leg of this race had started in medium to fresh WSWerly winds on Monday afternoon. At the time of the incident, the sea state to the northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm was moderate with waves of a 0.5m height.

The 12m long X-40 DHH Cross-Match is part of the regatta group of the Deutscher Hochseesportverband Hansa (DHH) from Gluecksburg, Germany, and the fleet’s only yacht with an all-female crew comprising six experienced sailors.



The emergency call was received by the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre on the island of Bornholm, a sub-division of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre JRCC Denmark. The accident is said to be the result of a tragic series of unfortunate events, when the skipper had been attempting to unravel headsail wrapped around the forestay. All efforts to locate Luebeck-born Sabine Juettner-Stork after her fall overboard have failed so far. The 54-year old is known for her calmness and many years of experience. After successfully crossing the Atlantic in 2007, it was her second Baltic Sprint Cup.

“The entire race community is deeply shocked”, said event manager Henning Rocholl from Hamburg, Germany and Race Ddirector Alan Green. This leg, the second of five has been abandoned by the race committee.

This year's race is the fifth running of the Baltic Sprint Cup. The race was started on Saturday (18 July) in Warnemuende, Germany, and will lead 930 nautical miles across the Baltic Sea with stopovers in Latvia and Poland to follow. The yachts are expected to cross the finish line on 31 July in Travemuende, Germany as the final destination. Three of the 33 yachts of the fleet are from abroad, 30 flying the German flag.