Despite the confinement, the National Society for Rescue at Sea remains operational at the national level, at sea as on land. And the volunteer rescuers of the Saint-Martin resort can be mobilized 24 hours a day, 24 days a week. To do this, they benefit from a derogatory authorization to travel for professional activities signed on March 7, 7 by the Director of CROSS-AG (Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue of Antilles-Guyane), based in Fort-de-France, in Martinique.
On Friday April 10 at around 9 a.m., the CROSS-AG asked the SNSM station in Saint-Martin to come out to locate an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) which emitted a distress signal off the bay of Grand-Case, in the Anguilla Channel. The coastguard of the Dutch side is also alerted, as well as the tender of a yacht at anchor in Marigot.
For this intervention, the choice fell on the SNS 129 cruiser, equipped with a “gonio” allowing to locate the VHF and EPIRB signals, unlike the “Rescue Star” semi-rigid which does not have one on board.
The launch sets off at 9 am with a skipper and 30 crew on board, heading for the GPS position of the distress beacon of the “BLONDE DREAM”, a black and blue monohull registered in the USA. But, on the spot, no trace of boat or debris ...
The CROSS then asks the SNSM to enter the Bay of Grand Case to see if this boat is at anchor or if there is another corresponding to its report or having an EPIRB beacon transmitting. And to carry out the same research in Bay of Marigot.
The SNSM crew noted the name of each vessel anchored in these two bays and checked more than 25 boats. But RAS: no BLONDE DREAM, no boat corresponding to the report, no EPIRB beacon.
The CROSS also notified the Miami Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC), which finally managed to contact the former owner of the Blonde Dream. The latter confirms having sold the boat (since 2004!) But has no information available on the new owner ...
At 11:07 a.m., after more than an hour and a half of fruitless searches, the CROSS gave freedom of maneuver to SNS 129, which returned to its home port, Marina Fort Louis, at 11:40 a.m.
The SNS 129 speedboat finds an acceptable speed…
However, this outing revealed that the SNS 129 speedboat was very limited in speed. Appointment is therefore given on Tuesday morning April 14, with a boss, the manager of Carib Diesel and the person in charge of the upkeep and maintenance of the two nautical resources of the station, and two other team members, for a technical analysis of this issue. And it was agreed to do a hull condition check first. Two days later in the morning, 6 crew members meet again to go to sea, and dive to clean the hull, the propellers and the propeller shafts, thus allowing the SNS 129 boat to regain an acceptable speed, in the event of a new one. intervention.
In addition, as after cyclone Irma in September 2017, where the station had made its premises available free of charge to the disaster department of Maritime Affairs, for several weeks, the SNSM of Saint-Martin proposed to the Prefecture to renew its collaboration, for any action or possible service, in particular with regard to seafarers.
Note, however, that the premises of the SNSM station are closed to the public, within the framework of current confinement instructions.
The SNSM of Saint-Martin also thanks the TILT and AFPS associations for providing its volunteer team members with a dozen protective visors, for any possible mobilization.
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