British couple come to rescue of sailboat passengers as vessel is about to be crushed against rocks 

This is the dramatic moment when a British couple of sailboat passengers came to the rescue just before their ship was about to be crushed against the rocks in Menorca.

After a Spanish rescue crew gave up on the unfortunate victims, Felicity Hanson and husband Joe save the day by helping free the 35-foot sailboat that was stuck on jagged rocks.

The two had woken up aboard their 40-foot Gibsea 402 sailboat in the sleepy fishing village of Es Grau to find the boat behind them had been dragged over the rocks during the night.

An easterly swell in Mahon marina had slammed into all the ships and their anchorages, but the boat behind them had bumped so far that it was pushed back ashore.

Felicity, 30, a digital marketing consultant, and Joe, 32, an accountant – both from Manchester but now living aboard their boat full-time – watched as a Spanish rigid inflatable lifeboat attempted to free the yacht but failed .

“We woke up in the morning and saw it like it was right up against the rocks,” Felicity said.

“We watched for a minute or two as many ribs buzzed around it, then saw the big lifeboat come in. The lifeboat tried for maybe 30 minutes and then gave up.’

The rescue team had tried to pull the boat off the rocks with a 2.5 cm thick dragline that was going full throttle. But after being unsuccessful and only causing further damage to the boat, the Manchester couple stepped in to intervene.

Joe had already gone there to offer some advice, offering the use of their halyard – a rope used to raise or lower the sail – to pull the sailboat off the rocks. However, this was rejected by one of the Spanish rescuers.

By this time, the owner of the boat had returned to the ship, having chartered the boat to paying guests who were currently on board.

They began helping the owner by grabbing the main halyard and pulling the boat sideways, the owner pulling back with his rope while a nearby catamaran owner helped by holding the line.

‘We started by getting the mainsail halyard and pulled the boat sideways with our boat, then the owner pulled back with another boat.

“The force it took to pull the boat sideways was more than our little six horsepower (hp) could handle. A nearby catamaran came to help with their 10 horsepower dinghy, they held the line and Joe towed them too, so we had 16 horsepower, which still wasn’t enough.”

Once they formed a plan, it only took a minute for the boat to free itself from the rocks.

The Manchester couple filmed the scene and uploaded it to their Instagram account @at-the-hansons where it has been viewed more than 380,000 times.

The owner said that if Felicity and Joe hadn’t helped free the boat in time, it probably would have crashed against the rocks where it would have been battered continuously, causing it to dismantle. He said anyone on board the boat could have been injured as well.

The environmental impact could also have been disastrous, as oil and diesel could have spilled into the ocean.

Felicity and Joe later found out that the charter guests had failed to follow the owner’s directions by not putting enough chain out into the ocean, meaning the anchor wouldn’t hold. This dragged the boat to the rocks where they remained trapped until morning.

“The boat was stuck on some rocks in Es Grau, there was an easterly swell coming through that tossed all the boats a little bit and a northerly breeze,” she said.

“But as far as we’ve since understood, the charter guests hadn’t put out enough chain and the anchor wasn’t holding, even though the wind wasn’t too strong.

So they dragged and the swell threw them on a big rock and against the cliff.

Felicity added: ‘The boat was miraculously watertight but that doesn’t mean they were unharmed as the rudder had hit the rocks so hard they completely lost their steering, they had some hull damage to the bow and pea bracket which holds their driveshaft and propeller in place was also badly damaged.

‘They are now being refurbished at a yard.’

The rescue team caused more damage than necessary, claimed Felicity and Joe, who said they were pulling with force to try and free the boat instead of thinking about the consequences for the physical boat.

“The professionals were more of a hindrance than a help,” she said.

“I know it’s not their job to save boats, they’re saving lives as a priority, but we think they did more damage by trying to help this boat.

“They pulled the boat with a huge drag line, probably a few inches thick or more, and full throttle they pulled back to try and get it off the rock.

‘That didn’t actually move the boat, but it did break the tow line, which takes enormous force.

“The lifeboat tried to tow backwards from the stern, which didn’t work, then they turned their boat around and tried to pull forward (more power) which didn’t work either.”

As part of the boating community, Felicity and Joe knew how devastating it would be for the owner if his boat was completely destroyed by leaving the boat to be crushed against the rocks, or having it taken apart by ruthless professionals.

“It was great to have been able to help the owner, and we were so glad the boat didn’t have to become a salvage operation,” she said.

“If we hadn’t gotten it off the rocks, the boat would have had to be slowly dismantled, and removed part by part, which is just so sad, and a blot on a beautiful stretch of coastline.

‘They were so grateful for the help and for the boat to be saved, a friend of his reached out via Instagram with updates on how the boat was doing etc and thanked us for filming the process which was also really helpful was for their insurance. .

“We love the community aspect of it. The professionals couldn’t help it, but we as the cruise community knew how devastating that would be to the owner and wanted to do everything we could to help them.”