When Herve Saint Hilaire and his family go sailing today, they carry expensive location devices on their bodies that make it easier to find them in the event they are lost at sea. That’s because Saint Hilaire was once thrown overboard from his 46-foot catamaran while trying to draw up the vessel’s 200-square-meter Spinnaker sail.

“I lost my footing and was catapulted into the sea,” Saint Hilaire told Kinute of the incident that occurred in 2000. “I swam as fast as I could back to the boat. I managed to reach the boat’s rear and to catch the handle, but there was no way to hang onto it. I was obliged to let it go.”

Although his wife was on deck that sunny early morning and tried to help, she didn’t realize the boat’s hydraulic steering system was on autopilot, and it took 20 minutes for her to flip the switch. 

“She asked what she should do, and I told her to throw me the horseshoe buoy,” Saint Hilaire said.

Herve's catamaran and sail in 2000. Photo courtesy of Herve Saint Hilaire

But there was a problem that the veteran sailor did not foresee. The surface of a European horseshoe buoy is smooth, which causes it to slide in the water, compared to the American horseshoe buoy, which has a flap that is inflated by the water and acts as a sea anchor.

“The wind takes the European horseshoe buoy away, and it's very complicated to get it back because you have to swim faster than the wind, but the American horseshoe buoy stays still in the water and isn’t moved by the wind, which is much, much better,” he said.

As the buoy was moved out of reach by the wind and the catamaran drifted away on autopilot, Saint Hilaire and his wife lost sight of each other.

“I lost hope in that moment when I started not to see the boat anymore,” he said. “I'm thinking that she's never going to find me because she's too far away.”

Saint Hilaire was lost at sea for 45 minutes while his wife looked for him with binoculars.

He was only half a mile away treading water, but the crashing high waves obstructed her ability to see him.

The man-overboard experience occurred in the South Pacific between the Galapagos and Marquesas islands when Saint Hilaire was 44 years old and his children were 6, 5, and 1 year old. They were asleep inside the boat during the entire ordeal. The area is known for its strong currents and unpredictable equatorial winds. 

Depending on the water temperature, Saint Hilaire could have stayed afloat for days before succumbing to thirst, assuming sharks didn't get to him first or the constant battering of the waves didn't wear him out and he drowned. 

“We were on an 18-month sabbatical sailing from St. Martin in the Caribbean to New Caledonia, New Zealand from May 1999 to August 2000,” he said.

“I did not think about sharks, but afterward, I realized that I was lucky there were no sharks around. I swam for 20 minutes trying to catch the buoy.”

Once the Parisian real estate broker and property manager was able to recover the buoy, he began to make himself visible as much as possible by catching the top of every wave while holding up the buoy with one hand and waving with the other.

“I don’t believe God exists, so I didn't pray,” he said. “I was fighting so that my wife could see me from the boat. That's what was on my mind.”

After using the Rolex watch his wife had gifted him with to create a reflection on the water from the sun, a black and white sea bird began circling just above Saint Hilaire’s head.

“The bird was there for me in a stationary position for 5 minutes, and I thought it would help, but the bird was too late and eventually flew away so it was the reflection of my watch and the orange color of the buoy that attracted my wife to navigate the catamaran in my direction,” he said.

Once Saint Hilaire’s wife rescued him and he was safely back on board the catamaran, fatigue and hypothermia began to set in.

“I was tired from swimming against the current,” he said. “We discussed opening a bottle of champagne, but there was too much fear. I owe my life to my wife.”

Saint Hilaire, 65, has since sold the catamaran and replaced it with a much larger 60-foot former race boat monohull.

Herve's current boat. Photo courtesy of Herve Saint Hilaire

Although he is changed forever from the man-overboard experience, Saint Hilaire remains undeterred when it comes to sailing. Two years ago, he won the Trophee du Bailli de Suffren 10-day rally race between St. Tropez and Minorca via Alghero in Sardegna.

“Nothing has changed,” he said. “I’m still running back and forth on the boat when there is a maneuver. There is no problem with that, but I am more careful with others with the sail because Spinnakers are very tough sails.”

The Saint Hilaire family on the catamaran in 2000. Photo courtesy of Herve Saint Hilaire

Saint Hilaire offers the following advice to other sailors who want to avoid a lost-at-sea experience:

Never be alone when you are performing a complicated maneuver. “I would never do any kind of maneuver without my wife being awake and on deck,” he said.

Carry a GPS AIS device at all times and never allow more than four crew members on the deck at one time.  “Sailing is not a pleasure anymore if you are wearing a life jacket all the time but having this in the pocket is lightweight,” Saint Hilaire said. “I recommend always having this in either your pocket or wearing it as a bracelet. I have four of them on board my boat at any given time."

Attach a rope to the back of the boat so that it trails 20 yards behind it. “At least if I fall overboard again, I have a rope to catch on the back of the boat,” he said.

Bring along a good pair of binoculars with a wide viewing angle. “Some binoculars have very narrow angles and you can only see a small area while others have a much larger angle and you can view much larger and wider,” Saint Hilaire said.

Buy an American horseshoe buoy. “It was the first thing I bought when we made it ashore,” he said.