Rachael Perrin (pictured) feared for her life after tumbling into the sea from a motor cruiser as it was buffeted by strong waves off the southern coast of the Isle of Wight on 23 May.
“It was by far the most awful moment I have ever experienced,” said Rachel, who had only taken up boating a year before.
She was sailing with her partner, Mike Burge, from Portsmouth to Cherbourg when, feeling seasick by the stern, she suddenly went over the side into the cold water.
Rachael (51) said: “I was thinking, what the hell’s happened? And when I got to the surface I was panicking. I was shouting but there was no way Mike could hear me over the noise of the engine.”
It was her preparedness that put her on course to be rescued.
With the automatically inflated lifejacket keeping her afloat with her head securely above the water, Rachael was able to call 999 for HM Coastguard on her mobile phone hanging in a waterproof case round her neck.
Without my phone they would have found a dead body
“If I did not have my phone, I think the length of time I would have been in the water means hypothermia would have killed me. The lifejacket kept me afloat but without my phone they would have found a dead body,” she said.
Once Rachael had raised the alarm at about 1.45pm, HM Coastguard coordinated the search and rescue operation, sending two helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft.
The RNLI's all-weather lifeboats from Bembridge and Yarmouth were also sent alongside the Sandown and Shanklin Independent Lifeboat and two nearby vessels.
Rachael kept talking to the HM Coastguard operations room, passing on clues to her location such as describing two large vessels she could see and estimating how far she was drifting from land.
She recalled: “The fact that I could talk to someone who could give me a live update made the difference to stopping me freaking out. I knew they were looking for me and they would find me. That was hugely comforting.
“When I was near the Isle of Wight I caught a very fast current and drifted miles and miles very fast, so that the Island looked like a rock far away. I found it terrifying being that far from land and not being in a boat. I knew it was far too far away to try and swim.
HM Coastguard were amazing, such an asset
“I was listening to the voice from the operations room. I was getting hysterical but he was telling me to breathe and to let the lifejacket do the work of keeping me afloat. HM Coastguard were amazing, such an asset.”
At about 3.50pm the good news arrived: Rachael had been sighted on the surface by one of the helicopters.
With intense cramp setting in from the cold, she recalled hearing the rotors and feeling the spray: “The next thing I knew, an arm was coming round me almost out of nowhere – it was the winch paramedic – and really quickly they got me into the helicopter.
“When the helicopter did start to get close it was a massive relief: they're going to get me, I am going to be alright! But relief is the wrong word – it was so much more than relief.”
Less than three hours from when she raised the alarm, Rachael was flown straight to St Mary's Hospital, Newport, for a check-up. Despite arriving cold, sick from sea water and exhausted, she recovered strongly to go home after a night’s stay.
People are overconfident of their skills
Rachael, from Hayling Island, hoped her experience would encourage seagoers to make sure they were ready for the worst, including wearing a lifejacket.
She said: “I have since heard people saying things like, ‘I’m only going over to the Isle of Wight’ or ‘I’m a strong swimmer’. But you get cramp from the cold water; my whole body started to cramp and I could hardly hold the phone. People are overconfident of their skills.”
Rachael’s advice:
- Keep your mobile phone to hand in a waterproof case on a lanyard
- Always wear a lifejacket with the straps correctly fitted
- Have a location phone app or carry a registered Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)
- Check equipment is in date, such as lifejacket gas cannisters
- Agree a process to regularly check on crew members when at sea
Network Commander Samuel George, based at HM Coastguard’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Fareham, said: “The happy result from this incident was due in large part to Rachael going properly equipped.
“We always advise anyone going out on the water to wear a lifejacket or personal flotation device, and to carry a means of communication such as a mobile phone in a waterproof case and a registered personal locator beacon.
“As this incident shows, it can make all the difference.”
