Bob
Well-Known Member
Assistance is sought in connection with a "SAILOR" EPIRB unit used by the yacht MOQUINI - missing in the Indian Ocean.
Post copied from http://www.cruisingconnections.co.za/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=71 follows:
Latest from the race website:
What We Know;
One of the last communications between Moquini and another yacht in the fleet was Tuesday 13th in the late afternoon, when Zeus overtook Moquini. Only hand signals were used (electrics?) and Neil Nocknell intimated that they had blown out all their spinnakers but were all ok.!
The last voice comms was at 22h40 (same day) between Graham Cochrane and his wife Denise via Sat Phone.
The Skygistics transponder on Moquini gave us a last positional report at 01h17 on Wed 14th, as 25deg 50'25"S, 47deg 44' 1"E. We know that conditions off Madagascar at the time she past through, were heavy but not too bad (25knts and 5-6m confused seas). The fact that the Skygistics transponder had stopped reporting was not seen as a problem as we were aware that Moquini may have experienced electrical problems and were sure that Kurt Ostendorf would get it up and running again.
The next comms from the yacht was a single EPIRB report of some 335milliseconds which simply gave us her 'ID'. This happened at 03h40, Friday 16th. It was an 'unlocated report' i.e., no co-ords were given. Also no report has been received since. The EPIRB being used on Moquini, is a SAILOR model. It is designed to be kept in the cabin and deployed manually.
This activation will be either the manual switching 'on' of the unit via the pressing of a button, or the immersion of the EPIRB into water. However, in both scenarios, the EPIRB must be removed from it's bracket to gain access to (a) the switch, or (b) enable the water activation points to work. If not removed from it's bracket, it will NOT activate. Therefore, it is a known that it was removed from it's bracket - just how, we can only guess. Why only one ID report from the EPIRB?
A possible scenario is that the yacht was in difficulty and one of the crew decided it was time to call for assistance... they would have removed the EPIRB and activated it manually, i.e. used the manual switch. At 03h40 in the morning the light from the bright strobe light would have alerted others to it's activation, perhaps causing them to immediately de-activate it until really sure about calling for help. This EPIRB can be switched off by depressing the button for 10 seconds. This may make some sense as the ID report of 335ms is only transmitted every 60 seconds, giving someone on board a full 50seconds to decide and action the 'deactivation'. In this type of scenario we believe the yacht is damaged, perhaps with a jury rig, and is limping to port but not in danger of sinking. There are other possibilities too, but the question remains... why did the EPIRB only report once?
If you have an educated theory, you can email it to us club@rnyc.org.za and it will come through to our Ops centre. Please, only send us EDUCATED theories as we can not afford the time sifting through 1000's of 'what if' emails....
We are documenting our progress and we know that the sport and pastime of yachting will definately learn from this experience. We have.
Again, Sailing KZN (SAS), with overall responsibility for this Search, thanks the RNYC and many individuals and organisations who have stepped forward to offer their expertise and assistance. To the individual donors, businesses, schools and clubs... we thank you for your total support and assistance.
(From the race website)
Post copied from http://www.cruisingconnections.co.za/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=71 follows:
Latest from the race website:
What We Know;
One of the last communications between Moquini and another yacht in the fleet was Tuesday 13th in the late afternoon, when Zeus overtook Moquini. Only hand signals were used (electrics?) and Neil Nocknell intimated that they had blown out all their spinnakers but were all ok.!
The last voice comms was at 22h40 (same day) between Graham Cochrane and his wife Denise via Sat Phone.
The Skygistics transponder on Moquini gave us a last positional report at 01h17 on Wed 14th, as 25deg 50'25"S, 47deg 44' 1"E. We know that conditions off Madagascar at the time she past through, were heavy but not too bad (25knts and 5-6m confused seas). The fact that the Skygistics transponder had stopped reporting was not seen as a problem as we were aware that Moquini may have experienced electrical problems and were sure that Kurt Ostendorf would get it up and running again.
The next comms from the yacht was a single EPIRB report of some 335milliseconds which simply gave us her 'ID'. This happened at 03h40, Friday 16th. It was an 'unlocated report' i.e., no co-ords were given. Also no report has been received since. The EPIRB being used on Moquini, is a SAILOR model. It is designed to be kept in the cabin and deployed manually.
This activation will be either the manual switching 'on' of the unit via the pressing of a button, or the immersion of the EPIRB into water. However, in both scenarios, the EPIRB must be removed from it's bracket to gain access to (a) the switch, or (b) enable the water activation points to work. If not removed from it's bracket, it will NOT activate. Therefore, it is a known that it was removed from it's bracket - just how, we can only guess. Why only one ID report from the EPIRB?
A possible scenario is that the yacht was in difficulty and one of the crew decided it was time to call for assistance... they would have removed the EPIRB and activated it manually, i.e. used the manual switch. At 03h40 in the morning the light from the bright strobe light would have alerted others to it's activation, perhaps causing them to immediately de-activate it until really sure about calling for help. This EPIRB can be switched off by depressing the button for 10 seconds. This may make some sense as the ID report of 335ms is only transmitted every 60 seconds, giving someone on board a full 50seconds to decide and action the 'deactivation'. In this type of scenario we believe the yacht is damaged, perhaps with a jury rig, and is limping to port but not in danger of sinking. There are other possibilities too, but the question remains... why did the EPIRB only report once?
If you have an educated theory, you can email it to us club@rnyc.org.za and it will come through to our Ops centre. Please, only send us EDUCATED theories as we can not afford the time sifting through 1000's of 'what if' emails....
We are documenting our progress and we know that the sport and pastime of yachting will definately learn from this experience. We have.
Again, Sailing KZN (SAS), with overall responsibility for this Search, thanks the RNYC and many individuals and organisations who have stepped forward to offer their expertise and assistance. To the individual donors, businesses, schools and clubs... we thank you for your total support and assistance.
(From the race website)
