At approximately 0040 hours on Sunday 26 October, Guernsey Coastguard received an emergency beacon alert indicating a vessel in distress north of Guernsey. This was swiftly followed by a call from Joburg Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), reporting that a 60-foot trimaran participating in an organised race had capsized with two people on board approximately 3.5 miles northwest of Guernsey.
Guernsey Coastguard immediately contacted another yacht in the vicinity, also participating in the race, which confirmed witnessing the capsize. However, due to adverse conditions, the vessel was unable to approach or render assistance.
At 0051 hours, Guernsey Coastguard paged the St Peter Port Lifeboat for immediate launch and coordinated with Joburg MRCC, which dispatched a French rescue helicopter to the scene.
Further updates confirmed that the two sailors aboard the trimaran were uninjured and remained with the vessel. The French helicopter arrived at approximately 0130 hours, followed shortly by the St Peter Port Lifeboat. The two sailors were winched aboard the helicopter and transported 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 0230 hours. Race officials are currently arranging for the recovery of the trimaran and are tracking its drift along the west coast.
Duty SAR Mission Coordinator Simon Granger commented: “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. The joint coordination between Joburg MRCC and Guernsey Coastguard ensured a successful outcome.”

Update: Following the earlier incident involving a capsized yacht, which resulted in the successful airlift rescue of two individuals in the early hours of this morning, the vessel has now washed ashore as predicted by drift modelling.
The yacht has come to rest at the southern end of Perelle Bay, near the Shingle Bank.
Guernsey Coastguard is currently coordinating with the Joint Emergency Control Centre, States Works, and the race directors in France to ensure the safe removal of the vessel from the shoreline.
At this time, the pollution risk has been assessed as minimal. The situation continues to be closely monitored.
Members of the public are kindly requested to stay clear of the vessel, particularly as the tide drops, to allow recovery teams to work safely and efficiently.