Saturday, December 16, 2006

are we there yet?


Well merde happens, but this is definitely at the extreme end of things. Three-man crew from South Africa not to be found, the catamaran up on the sand on the Oregon coast. Coasties say they found an Epirb locked in a closet that, had it been able to float free, might have brought aid and succour to these poor mariners.
LATER:
A Voyage 440 enroute from Cape Town to Seattle capsized off the Oregon coast in the storm we received here in the past 48 hrs. So far the delivery crew is missing. Does anyone know who the delivery crew was? The boat's name was Cat Shot..
Washed ashore, dismasted and the cabin gone. From the TV picture's last night night it appeared that a halyard was wrapped around the starboard sail drive.
Winds were over 100 Knots and 40' seas in the area off shore from where she washed ashore (Lincoln City, Oregon).
From the Voyage Owners' Assoc.

Then again there's the (some say) Hylas someone dragged across the reef at Cane Garden Bay and which has become a prime snorkelling venue for the venturesome tourist. Some say it was being helmed by the owner who saw the lights of CGB and blasted on in. Others that it was a charter boat with a paid captain (I hesitate to use the word "professional"). All agree it's about 60 feet (so really 45-50?), some say named Sea Wolf. The paid captain version I heard involved a delivery and the suggestion that the captain took off and hasn't been seen since.
In any case it seems he steamed right over the reef at CGB, tore off the keel and set her down in 20 feet or so of good water. I'll go take a picture later.
I hear that the locals removed a good portion of salvageable materials.

If it was a Hylas, the new models are 46, 49 and 54 feet with a 66 foot pilot house model soon to come. The 54 (Cruising World boat of the year) sells for about $700,000 fully spec'd.
LATER: Turns out it was a delivery crew taking a boat (under cloudy circumstances) to Antigua. Lost instruments, went in to CGB and made an error. Captain took off in the dinghy, leaving crew stranded on boat. Keel fell off, crew took to liferaft and made it ashore only to get rounded up by local police for illegal entry. They're still in the caboose, the captain's sipping rum at CGB. Boat seems to have been towed away.
All this a result of several conversations, so let's call it informed rumour.
It's amazing the crazy stuff that happens here in Lotarot.

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