The English sailboat "El Viento", with two crew on board, ran aground on the night of 17 October on Deserta Island, near Barrinha, but its two crew and the vessel were saved by the joint action of the Maritime Police, Salva-Vidas de Olhão and the APS – Administration of the Ports of Sines and Algarve tugboat.
It all started when, at 22 pm on Tuesday, a playful fisherman notified the command of Faro of the Maritime Police that there was a sailboat in difficulty near the coast line. Half an hour later, the Maritime Operations Center (COMAR) also reported a similar situation.
According to information from the recreational fisherman, the sailboat was about to run aground next to the surf, near Barrinha on Deserta Island. However, according to the indication of the sailboat's request for help to COMAR, it would be close to the tuna traps area, a little further from the coast.
To check what was actually going on, a team from the Maritime Police sailed through the Ria Formosa to the eventual location of the sailboat next to the bar. At the same time, a vessel from the Instituto de Socorros a Naufragos from the Salva Vidas Station in Olhão sailed across the sea to the tuna trap area.
At Barrinha, the PM confirmed that the British sailboat, with 10 meters in length, was in fact very close to the surf zone and quite exposed to adverse weather conditions, with waves and wind. "His two crew were carrying out maneuvers to try to move the vessel away from the site, maneuvers which proved to be fruitless," says the National Maritime Authority.
With the sailboat getting closer to the break and the crew in danger of their lives, they were encouraged to leave the boat, which happened.
The two crew, of English nationality, father and son, were "in a state of hypothermia", having been taken immediately to the Doca de Recreio de Faro, where they had the assistance of an INEM team.
They were then transported to the Hospital of Faro, where they were hospitalized for observation. On the 18th in the afternoon, only the father, owner of the vessel, remained hospitalized.
The sailboat, despite having suffered some visible damage in the deck area, did not show, according to the Maritime Authority, "damage to the live works" and ended up running aground at high tide, that is, around 2:30 am.
The vessel's rescue operation was coordinated by the Captain of the Port of Faro. Thus, at the first dawn of October 18, «with the sailboat's buoyancy conditions verified and benefiting from the improvement in weather conditions, the operation began to unground the boat, which was eventually done by the tugboat «Fogoso», from APS .
The English sailboat was then towed, at around 15:00, to the Commercial Pier in Porto de Faro, where it was moored, to be "duly inspected" and later on for repair at the shipyard.
The APS emphasizes that «this type of operations falls within the functions of the Port Authority that the APS assumes in the area of jurisdiction of the Port of Faro, putting all available means at the service of maritime safety'.
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