ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Oct. 21 (UPI) — A French sailor made a daring leap from his sinking sailboat to a rescue ship with his cat tucked in his jacket as rough seas tossed and pounded both vessels.
Manu Wattecamps-Etienne was forced to abandon his 30-foot sailboat as it was taking on water about 400 miles from Cold Bay, Alaska. With nearly 50-mph winds and as 20-foot waves crashing around him, Wattecamps-Etienne barely clung to the front of his sailboat, “La Chimere,” before jumping onto a icebreaker that happened to be in the area.
“The assistance of the good samaritans on this long-range distress call was vital for the success of the rescue,” said Bud Holden of the United State Coast Guard 17th District. “The crew of Tor Viking battled 20-foot seas and gale force winds to help a fellow mariner.”
Wattecamps-Etienne, a lifelong boater, has been sailing the world for eight years. A native of Brittany, France, he works odd jobs at ports for cash. Following his trip through the Northwest Passage, a sea route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Archipelago and near Alaska, he was planning to travel South to Chile before heading back to France.
On Facebook Wattecamps-Etienne said he wasn’t clear about his next step since his whole life was aboard his sailboat, but will try to make it to Seattle. He has little cash and no means of transportation.
“I feel like a footballer who just lost a leg. Useless and without purpose,” he said.
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