In wind and weather: sea rescuers in action

It’s eight o’clock in the evening in early October 2024. A wind force 7 storm is raging over the Baltic Sea. The waves are lashing, it’s pitch dark. The alarm sounds at Travemünde sea rescue centre. “Sailboat in distress”, reads the message. The young man in distress with his small sailing boat has been at sea for nine hours – in a T-shirt and shorts, without a lifejacket, completely disoriented. No more than a vague radio direction finding gives an indication of his position. Captain Patrick Morgenroth and his crew are notified by the control centre by means of an alarm call on their mobile phones. Within minutes, five volunteers are on board the ultra-modern lifeboat. It’s a custom-made model: ten metres long, 380 horsepower, 20 knots top speed – and even capable of capsizing. “Let’s go!” shouts Morgenroth. Heading out into the gloom, it’s a risky manoeuvre. 

“We going to get that boy out of there” 

The search is difficult. The atmosphere is tense, the crew highly focussed. “We’re going to get that boy out of there” – that’s the order. Two more lifeboats join in the search, the strong wind making the boats dance on the waves. At last: the spotlights catch the wildly rocking sailing boat – a fleeting shadow amid the roaring sea. “We were damn close to the coast,” recalls Morgenroth: “That’s a dangerous zone – after all, running aground can have serious consequences.” The sea rescuers throw out a line. It misses its target several times, but the young man is finally able to grab hold of it. Morgenroth and his crew take the sailing boat in tow and manoeuvre it to the harbour into safety. “That was a close call,” says the captain.  

Around 2,000 operations per year  

Patrick Morgenroth is one of more than 1,000 sea rescuers in the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) who carry out around 2,000 operations on the North Sea and Baltic Sea every year. “Our mission is clear: we help wherever we can – independently, on our own responsibility and without state support,” explains Morgenroth, who is a family man. The volunteers give up their free time and sleep to help people in need. “There are a lot of different reasons why these things happen: technical faults, leaks, injuries, heart attacks – and storms,” says Morgenroth. At the age of 36, he’s already been involved in rescue work for more than 20 years. Inspired by his father, himself a long-time sea rescuer, he joined the organisation as a teenager. A trained ship mechanic with a captain’s licence, Morgenroth now trains volunteers full-time at the Sea Rescue Academy. 

Active commitment and team spirit  

Morgenroth is proud of his team. It is made up of 33 volunteers, including emergency doctors, paramedics, firefighters, police officers, but also office workers and tradespeople. The motivation? “It’s an incomparable feeling to be able to save lives and be part of a great team that you can rely on completely” – even in storms, in the dark and with the waves lashing.