Written by Pauline Saint
Vianney, 27, switched to “survival mode” while waiting for help to arrive. The young man who disappeared on Sunday December 22 while windsurfing off the coast of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue (Manche) tells us about a night he is unlikely to forget.
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He remembers the freezing wind, the waves hitting his face when they weren’t rocking his board. The rest was swallowed up by his memory. Vianney, 27, recognizes “still in shock” after his night of horror, stranded in the middle of the English Channel. Sunday December 22, the young man took to the sea with his windsurf near Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, without being able to return to the shore.
On the open sea – without water or food resources – few people survive beyond ten hours. During his disappearance, Vianney lasted nineteen hours, including several plunges into darkness, thanks to the activation of his “survival mode”. “I don’t remember my whole night. I had a memory lapse of about seven hours, between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m.”he explains, admitting “not yet aware” his experience.
Image of the rescue of Vianney, a 27-year-old windsurfer who disappeared at sea.
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© Marine nationale
I didn’t think about death at all, it wasn’t an option. In my head, I always told myself that I would survive and that I would be found. This is my chance.
Vianney, 27-year-old windsurfer
Of this winter night, clinging to his float, Vianney remembers above all “the cold, despite [sa] thick suit.” “I was shivering a lot because the wind was freezing. To warm myself, I dipped my body in water.testifies the windsurfer. Another anecdote resurfaces: “I kept hope from A to Z but it’s true that when the emergency services stopped the search around 11 p.m., I told myself that my chances were diminishing.”
On Sunday, Météo France placed the Channel on orange alert due to a depression in the North Sea. Wind gusts of up to 130 km/h were forecast. “There were a lot of waves at times. I remember being rolled up as my board was taken away. I absolutely had to get it back to survive.” retrace Vianney.
Due to fatigue and hunger, the young man does not take action “chaotic weather”. “To keep going, I always set myself goals like reaching a light in the night even if I never succeeded. I continued to keep my spirits up”he testifies.
Vianney, a 27-year-old windsurfer, spent several hours at sea before being rescued by a helicopter.
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© France Télévisions / Florent Turpin
His ordeal ended when help arrived, Monday December 23 in the early morning. The search interrupted the day before resumed and an H160 helicopter from the French Navy flew over Grandcamp-Maisy, in Calvados. “I saw the helicopter crisscrossing the area, in the distance. I hoped that they had spotted me and that was indeed the case. When they arrived, it was deliverance,” smiles Vianney, now “happy to be alive and to have found [sa] family”.
I didn’t imagine that there were so many people behind me, so many resources deployed. It’s great to be able to meet them today.
Vianney, 27-year-old windsurfer
For its part, the Manche maritime prefecture had announced in a press release that the windsurfer “conscious and alive”had been “evacuated by ambulance to the Cotentin public hospital center (CHPC)”. A few days after his incredible rescue, Thursday December 26, Vianney visited the rescuers who saved his life. An opportunity to thank them and devote himself to his next project, probably less risky: joining his older brother in New Zealand.
