A British kayaker was rescued from Channel waters on Thursday after being stranded clutching a life-buoy for several days, having set out following a break-up with his girlfriend.
Daniel Lewis, aged 28, was attempting to travel from Dover to France, but capsized and was found by Dutch fishermen clinging to a buoy. He said he had survived by eating mussels and seaweed.
The crew of the De Madelaine fishing vessel, from Urk in the Netherlands, rescued him after captain Teunis de Boer noticed him “waving like a madman” following a disappointing morning’s fishing. The crew threw him a lifebuoy and hauled him onto the shop.
Mr De Boer said that Mr Lewis must have spent “a couple days at least” on the buoy. He was found dressed only in swimming trunks and was airlifted by helicopter to hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer and placed in intensive care.
Mr Lewis is understood to be able to talk but is in a “bad shape”, the Daily Mail reported.
His father Richard Lewis, from Blackpool, told MailOnline that he knew the kayaker was "my Daniel" from the moment he saw pictures of him in reports.
"I'm so pleased that he is safe and well and being looked after in hospital. But I was really worried that he had almost been lost at sea. I had no idea he was planning anything like this."
He said his son had been moving around but he had been trying to "keep tabs" on him.
"I try to speak to him on the phone as often as I can. But the other day he just vanished. I later heard that he had split up with his girlfriend. I had no idea he had gone down south or that he was planning to paddle across the Channel. Daniel has never been into kayaking. He doesn't even own a canoe."
Britse kajakker na dagen op een lichtboei door Nederlandse vissers gered. Maakt het goed. pic.twitter.com/0EEZ57mTxl
— EMK-vissers (@EMKvissers) October 27, 2022
His rescuers said it was a “miracle” that he had survived. He was dehydrated, bruised, had sunken eyes, and was suffering from severe hypothermia when he was rescued, with a body temperature of just 26C. Mr De Boer said Mr Lewis “looked a bit confused” and so it was difficult to say how long he had been stranded for.
Mr De Boer said Mr Lewis had told them he had left Dover in his kayak on 15 October, 12 days before his rescue, but French maritime authorities said in a statement that he had left Dover 48 hours previously.
“You can bet that you can’t sleep on such a buoy, especially with the rough weather of the past few days,” Mr De Boer told De Telegraaf website.
He added that Mr Lewis “clearly had little energy left - with his very last bit of strength, he managed to extend his arm, after which we were able to bring him in”.
He said he was checking they were not steering too close to the Colbart Nord buoy when he saw something moving around on it. "I picked up the binoculars and saw a young man just in his swimming trunks waving at us like a madman," he said.
"He was covered in bruises and explained that he'd stayed alive by scraping mussels off the buoy and eating little crabs and seaweed.” His eyes were “very deep in his sockets”, the captain said.
He told The Telegraph: "We were passing a buoy on a sand bank - I was wondering because I was looking out the window to the buoy and I saw something, so I didn't believe my eyes."
He said they pulled him aboard and made contact with the coastguard so he could have medical support. "He told us he was on that buoy for several days, also with bad weather - it was lucky that we saw him."
Mr Lewis, he said, was nearly "completely naked" apart from a pair of swimming trunks. He told crew member Jean Haphoort, 32, how grateful he was to be rescued.
"He was very happy with me and said 'thank you, thank you'.'"
Mr Haphoort added that when they rescued Mr Lewis he was "not 100 per cent" because of his level of hypothermia and dehydration. The crew offered Mr Lewis a Snickers bar as he told them he had set out from Dover to France. He reportedly had no kayak training or equipment with him.
