The crew of a whale watching vessel and first responders as well as members of ICE-SAR rescued the crew of a yacht which had broken it's moorings in the harbour of Akureyri, in North Iceland during Sunday's storm. The crew, a Swiss family of eight and an assistant are travelling the north seas as part of the TopToTop Global Climate Expedition.
Read more: Sunday's storm reached hurricane force, caused significant disruption to air travel
Dario and Sabine Schwörer have lived onboard the yacht for the past 18 years, raising their family on the high seas. The youngest of the children is three months old, the oldest 12 years old. The family had planned to spend the winter docked in Akureyri.
Dario told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he has never experienced waves like those on Sunday. Despite having secured the yacht to dock the storm broke every single rope and mooring, blowing the yacht out into the harbour.
The family managed to steer the yacht to a second floating dock, where the storm thrashed the yacht into the dock for a long time before Police, firefighters, ICE-SAR and volunteers, including the staff of the whale watching company Elding, managed to tie the boat securely to the dock.
The yacht suffered some damage in the storm and suffered some flooding. The family has been offered housing in Akureyri while the yacht is repaired.
The crew of a whale watching vessel and first responders as well as members of ICE-SAR rescued the crew of a yacht which had broken it's moorings in the harbour of Akureyri, in North Iceland during Sunday's storm. The crew, a Swiss family of eight and an assistant are travelling the north seas as part of the TopToTop Global Climate Expedition.
Read more: Sunday's storm reached hurricane force, caused significant disruption to air travel
Dario and Sabine Schwörer have lived onboard the yacht for the past 18 years, raising their family on the high seas. The youngest of the children is three months old, the oldest 12 years old. The family had planned to spend the winter docked in Akureyri.
Dario told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he has never experienced waves like those on Sunday. Despite having secured the yacht to dock the storm broke every single rope and mooring, blowing the yacht out into the harbour.
The family managed to steer the yacht to a second floating dock, where the storm thrashed the yacht into the dock for a long time before Police, firefighters, ICE-SAR and volunteers, including the staff of the whale watching company Elding, managed to tie the boat securely to the dock.
The yacht suffered some damage in the storm and suffered some flooding. The family has been offered housing in Akureyri while the yacht is repaired.
