A moderate storm that swept over large parts of the Croatian coast in the night from July 6 to 7, 2020 caused the first large-scale deployment of SeaHelp emergency response boats. It was not until the morning of July 7th that the full extent of the damage became apparent, with a total of eight salvages on the deployment schedule of the “Yellow Angels of the Adriatic”, most of which were eagerly awaited. But a great deal of the damage could have been avoided if all owners had taken the SeaHelp weather warning via the SeaHelp app seriously.
SeaHelp weather warning before storm
As early as 10.00 a.m. the nautical breakdown service sent out a weather warning and pointed to an approaching storm in the North Adriatic. Northeasterly gusts increasingly to 35 to 60 knots, in the Velebit Channel at peak up to 85 knots in combination with high swell. In addition, according to the SeaHelp weather warning, there is a danger of afternoon thunderstorms in the South Adriatic, and at night in the Central and North Adriatic.
Download the SeaHelp app
The SeaHelp Weather Warning is issued via the SeaHelp app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices in the respective stores (Apple App-Store, Google Play Store). The app not only warns of sudden weather changes, but also allows access to the SeaHelp-News, a compass, petrol stations, the latest weather data, tides and creates the possibility to request help quickly and easily with just two clicks. Anyone who uses the SeaHelp emergency call automatically transmits the coordinates of their current location to SeaHelp, then receives a call back to verify the emergency, and the yellow, up to 700-horsepower rescue boats are on their way to the scene of the accident.
Interesting for all vacationers in Croatia
The SeaHelp app has long proven to be an insider tip for many vacationers, not just water sports enthusiasts, who want to be reliably informed about sudden weather changes at their holiday destination. Boat owners should ensure that the lines are additionally secured and check the anchor buoys thoroughly, and many campers have also been told that their tent or awning is additionally secured by a SeaHelp weather warning.
Problem: anchor buoys do not hold
A SeaHelp member, who obviously did everything right, wrote: “We are at the buoy in Silba right now and had about 62 knots of squalls at 1.30 am, really strong. But the buoy held! If the dinghy at the fore ship had not, despite all attempts to moor it, continued to rise and thundered down again, we could even have gone back to sleep! But then we just made ourselves a cup of coffee!” Also a way to get through the storm night.
Unfortunately, not all skippers heeded the SeaHelp weather warning, as the rescue teams, which had already been put on alert anyway, had a restless night and an equally busy day ahead of them. A total of eight salvages and many smaller operations – that was the balance of the first stormy night of the water sports season.
Many damage avoidable
However, many damages could have been avoided. In the past, SeaHelp has warned several times about dilapidated anchor buoys, some of which are poorly maintained, which ultimately cause the rope leading to the seabed to break and the ship and buoy to drift ashore. Even in the night from Monday to Tuesday, more than 50% of operations were due to faulty buoys. Therefore again the SeaHelp advice to all skippers: Check the buoys for safe hold so that the Adriatic storm is not followed by trouble.
More on Instagram
By the way: More pictures of the storm night can be found on Instagram, especially a really good photo of the calm after the storm. At this point we would like to mention once again: The SeaHelp editorial team is always happy to receive photos, including weather phenomena as motifs, which the skippers leave to us for publication and use.
