Heroic Rescue (Photo by Antigua Sailing Week)
During Day 2 of the 56th Antigua Sailing Week, six young sailors from the National Sailing Academy faced a serious emergency when their boat, S/Y Challenger, suffered a steering failure and took on water rapidly.
Maurice Belgrave from Maurice Underwater Services was on standby and quickly responded to the Mayday call, rescuing all sailors before attempting to save the damaged vessel.
He creatively used a scuba suit to temporarily plug a large hole while towing the boat back to shore.
Despite a further challenge when the mast collapsed, Maurice managed to secure the situation and get the sailors safely ashore.
By the end of the day, the sailors were safe, and Maurice received recognition for his heroic actions from Race Manager Jamie Torres during the prize-giving ceremony, highlighting the importance of having such dedicated individuals during regattas.
God bless you sir. Happy you was there and happy everybody safe
Wellndone Well done Maurice. An angel in human form! Averted a tragedy that we would not have wanted
On the job training. Now you have experienced a real life situation of its kind.. congrats to the team
Let us hear it for Maurice