The ship is the three masted Barque "Statsraad Lehmkuhl" of Bergen, Norway. It is the largest and oldest sailing ship in Norway, and has won the "Tall ship's races" several times. The previous day, the ship had left Lerwick for Bergen. British (Scottish) coastguard trained twice that day with lowering rescue personell down on the 98m long sail ship. The day after, as seen here, the ship had entered Norwegian waters. An elderly lady had some heart-issues, and the doctor decided it would be too risky to wait almost 48 hours before the scheduled ETA for Bergen Harbor. The woman was evacuated from the Norwegian rescue service.


The wind was at about 23 knots, and with quite some waves, so the ship, thus the masts, were moving up and down all the time, making it difficult for helicopters and rescue team.

Later, the ship's captain, Marcus A. Seidl, reported that the woman was doing well in hospital.