sailboats in the News

[LOLA]

here is one in Central America..

... http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/742317.html

[LOLA]

Robbers kill U.S. tourist in Guatemala sailboat attack

[John Shasteen]

Here's a link to a coast guard rescue of four from a floundering sailboat:
http://www.military.com/news/article/coast-guard-news/cg-rescues-fo...

There was a lot of press given to the de-keeling of Cynthia Woods, a Cape Fear 39 which went down in the Regatta de Amigos (Galveston to Vera Cruz race 6/08) costing one life. Here is a link to one of the many articles: http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=0d855f798c774402

[LOLA]

Thanks John...both were interesting...Lola

[John Shasteen]

This one wasn't exactly in the news, but here's a YouTube rescue by the Air Coast Guard of an unfortunate sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico in the waining hours of a Force 10 storm that hit the Gulf in March of this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwEKA78Jx9c
We were sailing from Puerto Isabella to Freeport - a short 250 mile hop and got caught in it as well, but Paloma, my blue water warrior princess is built and equipted for heavy weather.
Not to bore anyone, but if you would like the account of Paloma's ordeal in the storm, let me know and I'll post it here as well

[John Shasteen]

Here's a brief re-cap of Paloma's ordeal in the Gulf of Mexico last March:. this didn't make the news, but the red sailboat in my last posted link did and at first the Coast Guard thought that was us, because they had been looking for us for two days after we were reported overdue at Freeport and missing in the storm.
Thursday March 06, 2008, three of us, all seasoned blue water sailors sailed Paloma, my Bristol 29.9, out of Port Isabel and around the bottom of South Padre Island, just North of the Rio Grande River and the Mexican border, heading for Freeport about 250 miles to the ENE. It was the perfect sailing weather - we were in shorts and polo shirts, on a broad reach in 15 knot SE winds, beautiful 5-7 foot seas and 70 degree weather - the only thing missing was a Jimmy Buffett CD on the stereo.
Later in the day we got a Coast Guard weather alert, small craft immediately make for the nearest port, there was a Northerly cold front (the one that dumped all the snow in mid-west mid-week) moving our way at 35 miles per hour packing internal winds of 50-60, gusting higher, seas quickly building to over 20 feet. Paloma is a not a small craft, but a second-generation Bristol, built and equipped to go anywhere in any weather, and since the weather report was coming from Coast Guard South Padre Island, we thought we could head more easterly and possibly get on the other side of al least the brunt of the storm. No such luck, around 6:30pm we got hit full force by the front, coming like a freight train. It slammed us from a 15 degree heel to port down to starboard port lights in the water before we rounded up into the wind and could start the engine and start dropping sail. On the initial hit, the main hung up in the spreaders and tore, at the same time we lost a cotter pin on the port upper stay and we couldn't haul the main more than about 3/4 of the way down and as bad luck would have it, a jib sheet got of control and went under the boat, tangling in the prop, stopping the engine. Now came the decisions not in the "game plan".
We made the only possible decision, to turn south and run bare poles before the storm. From the point we turned, about 35-40 miles NE of the Rio Grande, we screamed down wind in what we thought were 18 - 20 foot following seas (later the Coast Guard told us they were 28 - 30 feet) and winds 50-60 and gusting over 60 ( a Force 10 storm, precisely as promised by the Coast Guard) for 36 hours. The stern and bimini were plenty of sail and it was a wild ride being pushed along by the seas, hitting over 10mph (from the GPS) when sliding down the face of the seas. It was a strain to keep Paloma tracking so we couldn't stay on the helm more than an hour at a time and we knew if we turned beam to the wind, we would broach. When anyone went below for an all too short, one-hour rest, they could only nap on the cabin sole - even that was comfortable after two hours in the cockpit. The winds were cold, but on the occasions that a wave broke into the cockpit, the water was warm. We kept wondering when the storm would abate - actually we just kept wondering if we were going to end up in Vera Cruz.
When the winds finally abated and shifted back to SE, we were about 135 miles down and 70 miles east of the Mexican coastline - we had been blown 180 miles off our original rhumb line, no engine and only a 110 working jib. During the short calm of the wind shift, we untangled the line around the prop, by starting the engine in neutral then putting the engine in reverse and pulling like crazy on the line trying to unwind it - after two tries, thank goodness it worked. We now had a working jib and an engine (if we needed it) - not a bad combination to turn and run North in what ended up being a much more comfortable 15-20 knot SE winds and 8-10 foot seas - still a chore to keep her on track with only a working jib and making hull speed and better when shoved by the following seas, but easily manageable.
The closest US landfall was South Padre Island about 135 miles NNW and by mid-day Sunday we were in sight of the buildings on the island.

[Franc]

Wow! What an amazing story! I guess that explains the second picture on your profile... :-)

[John Shasteen]

Here's another interesting sailboat in the news - here's a lesson: being a millionaire with a high$$$ yacht doesn't expempt you from the whims of the sea:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1041106/Millionai...

[Franc]

Lost baby whale thinks yacht is mom:

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australian media say a lost humpback whale calf has bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother.

The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and on Monday tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave.

Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat but still swam nearby, Australian Broadcasting Corp. and Channel 10 television news reported.


The calf appears exhausted but rescuers hope it will continue out to sea and search for its mother or another pod of whales. Watch whale think yacht is its mom »

"The outlook is not good, but we are giving the calf its only option. It can't be fed, and in fact we wouldn't know what to feed it" because it is not weaned, National Parks and Wildlife regional manager Chris McIntosh told ABC radio.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/whale.australia.ap/inde...

[John Shasteen]

Here's one more
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/NE...

[Franc]

Pirate Alert for Seafarers around Horn of Africa

A yacht similar to this one, the Carre D'as IV, was hi-jacked by Somali pirates on 03. Sept. 2008 in the Gulf of Aden and is now used to hunt for further prey.

Read more:
http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=48647&rid=11

[LOLA]

Not a sailboat,,,but Pirates:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5igGmlfz-K3g6EyC2vN8yK10vpCugD93H...

[Joe Murray]

The pirates of the Caribbean are much friendlier, arrrh!