Yes we are way……way behind in blog writing. Kim has ordered us to take turns because it
is too much for one person to try and catch us up. Anna was first to take a turn so now it’s my
turn (Bob). This blog is kind of a diary
for us and there are certain things we don’t want to forget so you will have to
suffer through some dated material. I
have been thinking about this one for over a month now and since everyone asks
about the subject I will write a little about the trip between the Azores and
Ireland where some big storms finally caught us.
My Dad (grandpa) and I were crossing the Atlantic
making fantastic time until we hit the Azores.
Up to this point we were able to sail an amazingly direct route with
great boat speeds most of the time. When
we reached Flora we were three days ahead of my most optimistic
projections. One of a number of reasons
for not actually landing in the Azores was that a large storm system was
forecast to hit the area a few days later and it looked like we could escape
the worst of it if we got far enough North.While studying routes to Ireland I learned that there were two trains of thought for making the trip. The first was simply sail a direct course North East, the second was to first sail north to approx. 47º North latitude and then sail northeast to Ireland. The latter was to avoid getting set too far to the east and potentially getting trapped in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France (an infamous spot).
So north we went…
I covered the details in my blogs at the time. Dad and I worked extremely hard at
positioning the boat to stay out of the worst of it based on information from
our satellite phone weather forecast and incessant badgering from Kim to go
north. It was exhausting and it cost us
at least three extra days of travel but we made it through safely. Below I have pasted in some stories of boats
that were out there with us during these exact same storms but did not share
the same luck.
Azores to Hebrides: Norwegian cruising couple rescued by Irish Navy
By
Irish Independent - published by Cruising Compass — last modified Jun 09, 2013
09:17 AM
A
Norwegian couple paid an emotional “thank you” last week to the Irish Naval
Service for saving them from horrendous seas after a dream voyage turned into a
nightmare.
Published: 2013-06-09 00:00:00
Yacht
Alice II under tow: © Irish Independent
As reported by Cruising Compass
Erik (62) and Gretta (62) Ostberg from
Haugesund in Norway were enjoying warm food and drinks in Castletownbere,
Ireland after they were escorted there when their yacht was badly damaged by
raging seas in the mid-Atlantic.
“We are very happy to be ashore. We were very
worried when the mast came down,” Mr. Ostberg said. ”We are very grateful
to the Irish Navy. I do not know what we would have done without them.”
Their yacht, the 10m wooden-hulled Alice
II, lost both its bowsprit and main mast in raging seas three days ago.The
accident happened as they were en route from the Azores to the Hebrides and
then back to Norway.
The main mast destroyed their VHF antenna as
it fell, so the couple were unable to issue a mayday alert.
They eventually spotted the French
trawler, Bikain, by using flares to signal their distress. The
trawler escorted them to the Naval Service vessel, LE Aoife, under
Lt Cdr Aoife Downing.
Both Norwegians were taken on board the Irish
ship and two sailors were placed on the stricken yacht which was towed to
shore.
Northern Atlantic: Please find my boat
By
Yachting Monthly — last modified Jun 28, 2013 01:12 PM
A
solo sailor rescued from his 35ft sloop in mid-Atlantic has asked Yachting
Monthly to help him locate his boat.
Dino Silva, 41, was on passage from his home
in the Azores to Iceland when the rudder of his aluminium yacht, Lua, failed.
He managed to repair it five times before it became inoperable.
Then, using a satellite phone, he called
Falmouth Coastguard and asked for help. A German freighter was directed to his
position, took him off and dropped him in Philadelphia, USA.
"All my life is on that boat. I sold my
house to build her. She is part of me, she's like a child to me," he said.
He was on Lat 53 when he abandoned her and
believes she is now somewhere between Scotland and Iceland. Her EPIRB was taken
off the boat at the Coastguard's recommendation, but in any case it only had 48
hours' worth of battery.
The yacht is uninsured.
Finnish yacht "Serena" abandoned: Crew tell their story
By
Sue Richards — last modified Jul 09, 2013 02:10 PM
Contributors:
Arja and Henrik Hankalahti
Malo
'50, Serena, currently floating somewhere off the coast of Portugal after her
crew had to abandon ship on the 17 June, 2013.
Yacht
Serena, a Malo 50 (32ft)
For Arja and Henrik Hankalahti it's been an
upsetting and stressful 3 weeks. Not only did the Finnish couple have to
abandon their much loved yacht "Serena" during a heavy storm off the
coast of NW Spain on the 17th June, but the yacht has still not been located
after the EPIRB stopped transmitting on the 22nd June.
Here is a short synopsis of the events that
led up to them making the decision to abandon ship;
"On the 17th June at 13.00 a huge wave
demolished the doghouse and everything which was in the centre cockpit. We were
also flushed in to the water, but luckily we had lifejackets on and life lines.
20 meter high waves continued flushing the centre cockpit and we had only one
lifejacket left, 2 went into the water and one was damaged during the accident.
"After this, most of the electrical
equipment on board started breaking down one by one. So we decided to ask for
help. We set off our EPIRB and a helicopter rescued us after 8 hours
struggling".
Amazingly, we shared a lock with the Alice II from Norway in
the Caledonian Canal…it’s a small world!
So if my Dad tells you those waves were damned big (halfway
up the mast or better) he probably isn’t exaggerating!
Capt. Bob
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