windsurfer found after drifting all night

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As the hours passed, we didn't think this story would have a happy ending… But ultimately, Christmas miracles sometimes seem to exist. THE young windsurferdisappeared on Sunday December 22 around 5:30 p.m. off the coast of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue (Manche) pointe de Jonville, was found in the morning of this Monday, December 23, 2024around 10:30 a.m. by the French Navy helicopter, the H160.

D’significant means had been deployed to find the young man aged 27. For 6 hours, the all-weather canoe from the SNSM of Barfleur combed the area.

The semi-rigid SNS 652 Jacques-Armengaud from the SNSM station in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue; The all-weather canoe SNS 086 Amiral-de-Tourville from the SNSM station in Barfleur; The Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue semaphore, equipped with night vision binoculars; The Air Search One aircraft of the Channel Islands Air Search Service; a land patrol from the Gendarmerie Operations and Intelligence Center (CORG) 50; and a land patrol as well as a light lifeboat (CSL) and victim rescue and assistance vehicle (VSAV) from the departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS) 50 were also engaged. The weather conditions, with rough seas of 5 and winds of force 7, suggested that the windsurfer would have “lost between Tatihou Island and the Croix de Saire”, off the coast of Réville.

Hanging on his float

Finally, this Monday, December 23, 2024, mid-morning, the regional operational surveillance and rescue center (CROSS) Jobourg engaged the H160 helicopter of the French Navy based in Maupertus (50) to continue the search. And… miraculously, some time later, the H160 helicopter informed the CROSS that it had found the windsurfer clinging to his float off the coast of Grandcamp-Maisy (50).

The latter, conscious and alive, was then taken care of by the H160 before being evacuated by ambulance to the Cotentin Public Hospital Center (CHPC) in Cherbourg.

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