Trimaran crew rescued as vessel capsizes

Oct , 26, 2025

Two crew members on a trimaran taking part in an organised race were rescued by French helicopter in the early hours.

Their vessel capsized about three and a half miles north-west of Guernsey.

Both were said later in the day to be unhurt.

Their yacht drifted ashore, as expected by drift modelling, at the southern end of Perelle Bay, near the shingle bank.

The 15m Ocean Fifty trimaran Koesio was taking part in the Transat Cafe L’Or, a transatlantic race from Le Havre to Martinique, and was in eighth place.

Crewed by a male-female pair, it was sailing in a 25-knot northerly wind with 2.5m waves at the time of the capsize.

At about 12.40am Guernsey Coastguard received an emergency beacon alert indicating a vessel in distress north of the island.

This was swiftly followed by a call from Joburg Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, reporting that a 60-foot trimaran participating in an organised race had capsized with two people on board, approximately 3.5 miles north-west of Guernsey.

The coastguard contacted another yacht in the vicinity, which was also participating in the race, which confirmed that it had witnessed the capsize, but due to adverse conditions, the vessel was unable to approach the casualty or offer help.

At 12.51 the coastguard called on St Peter Port lifeboat to launch and coordinated with Joburg MRCC, which dispatched a French rescue helicopter.

Further updates confirmed that the two sailors aboard the trimaran were not injured and remained with the vessel.

The French helicopter arrived at approximately 1.30, followed shortly by the lifeboat. The two sailors were winched aboard the helicopter and taken to France for precautionary medical checks.

The lifeboat remained on scene to monitor the drift of the upturned vessel before returning to St Peter Port at 2.30 hours.

Race officials tracked the drift of the stricken vessel and the coastguard coordinated with emergency services and States Works to remove it from the shoreline.

‘This was an organised race and the swift rescue of the two sailors is testament to the onboard safety equipment alerting the emergency services to the incident, along with the rapid response of the RNLI and French rescue helicopter,’ said Simon Granger, duty SAR mission coordinator.

‘The joint coordination between Joburg MRCC and Guernsey Coastguard ensured a successful outcome.’