Has anyone seen or heard from the S/Y 'Colros'?

Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

I calculate that David has been at sea now for 83 days. What do other Forum-ites think about the possible rate of progress of a small heavy boat drifting across the Atlantic? Even though I haven't yet been able to interpret the weather info they so generously provided me with, perhaps SimonJK and HenryB would be willing to make some educated, weather-wise guesses? Does anyone have first hand experience of this sort of situation?

Thanks,
Barbara
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

First of all, re the comments below, I am optimistically assuming that Colros and David are still afloat, as we have no evidence so far to conclusively prove that they are not. I realise of course that they might not still be afloat - but we don't know for certain.

From information received, I think that David and Colros would probably average about 100 - 125 miles per day under sail in favourable conditions. If the wind was 'on the nose', and he has to beat, that daily average could be more like 50 miles (or less) a day. It is quite possible that he had headwinds in Biscay at some stage, and perhaps even some calms, all of which would slow him considerably. Madeira seems to be approx 1,200 miles rhumb line (just a rough calculation off an old pilot chart for the North Atlantic) from Falmouth. Hence it is possible that it could have easily taken him 20 days (or more) sailing to reach the latitude of Madeira.

Once he got down to these latitudes, the prevailing winds would appear to be generally North - Northeast, tending more towards the East as one goes further south .
Hence I am thinking that if he reached the latitude of Madeira on a longitude west of the islands and decided to keep going, if anything subsequently caused Colros to be disabled (eg losing the rig), then he would tend to get blown out into the Atlantic.

I mentioned in a previous post the Nicholson 32 'Compromise' which is (as far as I know) still drifting across the Atlantic after being abandoned in November while taking part in the ARC rally. Has anybody heard any further updates about her?

And about 8 years ago, a singlehanded rower was about a week out of the Canaries bound for Barbados when her rowing boat capsized and would not self right - she had to activate the EPIRB, and was rescued about 14 hours later by a passing cargo ship. The capsized rowing boat was abandoned, and subsequently washed ashore in the Turks & Caicos Islands (approx 2,800 miles away), I think about 5 or 6 months later (approx 15 - 18 miles a day average). This rowing boat would have had very little windage as she was virtually awash.

More recently, the sailing yacht First Light was abandoned 700 miles east of Barbados in January last year, and washed up on the east coast here 28 days later, which would be a drift rate of 25 miles per day, or approximately 1 knot. I have an old copy of a Pilot Chart for the North Atlantic which shows the westwards flowing current between Madeira and the West Indies as being approximately 10 - 16 miles per day - we had steady trade winds at the time that First Light came ashore, so perhaps an additional 10 - 15 miles per day could be attributed to 'sailing' windage.

I would hazard a guess that if Colros was drifting without any form of sail or kite propulsion, she could (like First Light) perhaps average 25 miles a day. Barbara has mentioned that David has an auxiliary kite on board which could be used to help propel the vessel, but he might not be able to use it.
If (and this is a Very Big If) Colros followed a similar route to the abandoned rowing boat after (say) drifting for the past 60 or 70 days, she could perhaps be 1,500 - 2,000 miles WSW of the Canaries.

If she is drifting across, then one could reasonably ask why have there been no sightings of her by other yachts or ships?
But one could ask the same question re Compromise.
While the ocean can sometimes appear to be a very small place (eg when you meet another yacht in mid atlantic), most of the time it can appear to be a very big place indeed for a little yacht.
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

I thought I'd mention that in the text message I received from David on the day he left Corwall he said "winlink not working but boat is!"
Bless you all
Linda x
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

Linda,

Thats positive (in a way) news about Winlink, as it leaves plenty of hope open...

When he turns up safe and well, it will a great post that we hope he will make on here!

A positive outlook seems to be the appropriate stance...
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

I'll second Magna. No winlink when he left is hopeful news.
I'm glad so many are rallying around for you.
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

Dear MagnaCarter: I visited the Sailroom auction site, but cannot see where to submit a news item. Can you shed some light on that?

Thanks for the suggestion and for your positive stance,
Barbara
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

Hi Barbara
If you would like a news item on the site can you e mail me at david.anthony@sailroom.co.uk with more details and I'll deal with it . I own the site so there won't be any problems.
Also , I've spoken with freinds in the Turks and Cacois and they're also now aware
Best wishes
Dave
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

Thanks so much for contacting your friends in sunny climes to spread the word, and for offering to post David's story on Sailroom. I've sent you an email with the story and pics.

All the best,
Barbara
 
Re: A photo of David, Skipper of the S/Y \'Colros\'

Barbara
I'm sure that if anyone can do it David can - he sounds very competent and well able to face adversity at sea. Please email me a short news piece and pics and i'll endeavour to get it published in Sailing Today asap.
Rgds, Duncan
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

Here's a question for all the wise and experienced sailors out there:

It seems that Colros was virtually unsinkable and she had a brilliant skipper to boot, so where are they?! I am now praying that David did decide to go off on his own for a while and that he'll show up at some point. He talked to me a bit about what he imagined this voyage might mean to him, but we never got past the point of wondering in gobsmacked awe! Perhaps he decided that he just had to check out for a while. But what's so difficult for us here wondering and waiting is, when and how will we ever know, and how long do we wait before we must reluctantly decide that it's "case closed"? (I realise I'm probably asking "how long is a piece of string?")

Nevertheless, I'd love to know if any Forumites have heard of a similar situation before, or are there any sailing books or novels that address this question in any way? Or does anyone have an idea of someone I might talk to about this?

Thanks,
Barbara
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

Barbara, thats a tough post to respond to, but i'll have a go.

Being utterly pragmatic, it is important to be honest here, and recognise that there is no such thing as an unsinkable boat.... but a strong steel boat, well prepared, with a good skipper is about as close as you'll get.

Over the last few years, there have been a number of reports of seriously overdue boats, some with happy endings and some with sad ones.

To keep your hopes up, there are numerous stories of people being dismasted, or brought up in other ways, and then spending long periods at sea with ultimately happy endings....

As you clearly have already realised in the way you frame the question over how long to wait, there is no real possible meaningful answer to this question.

And as has been said above, the Atlantic is a very very large bit of water.... many many Atlantic crossings have reported sailing the vast majority of the way without sighting another vessel, so no sightings isn't entirely unexpected...

I don't personally know any books, but I am sure someone will recommend plenty.

I, along with many others by the sound of it, am praying for a happy outcome, and all of Davids friends and family are in our thoughts.
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

There are so many possibilities that it's not just a question of how long a piece of string, but also which string.

The things that come to my mind are:

Change of plans. It may be that David decided, when at sea, that he'd head somewhere else. Perhaps he's on his way to Cape Town, or Rio, or the Falklands. Without ship to shore communication, there's no way to know this.

Dropping out. Maybe David wants a new life, and has decided to cut all his old ties. He may not have felt like that when he left, but time alone at sea might have made him reassess his life. One classic example is Bernard Moitissier who after almost completing a round the world race just carried on around for a second time. Two quotes from him: "You do not ask a tame seagull why it needs to disappear from time to time toward the open sea. It goes, that's all."
"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea."

Injury or illness. No matter how well found the boat, and how experienced the sailor, if he or she becomes incapicitated and has no means of raising an alarm, there is little that can be done beyond hoping for a natural recovery.

Accident. No yacht is truly unsinkable, especially compared to merchant shipping. It's possible for a ship to run down a yacht and not even know it. That's what is believed to have happened a few years ago to the yacht Tuila, which simply disappeared with four crew on a relatively straightforward North Sea crossing.

Abandoning ship. Once again, no yacht is unsinkable. That's when David might have taken to a liferaft. A liferaft has no ability to be steered, it simply drifts in response to winds and currents. If the liferaft is not spotted it can drift for weeks. That happened, famously, to the Robertson family whose yacht was sunk by collision with a whale. They survived 38 days adrift in a dinghy. Alain Bombard, a French doctor, believed survival at sea was possible without adequate rations and proved it by drifting for over 3 months in a rubber dinghy from the Canaries to Barbados, drinking seawater, rainwater and eating plankton and fish.

Dismasting/disablement. Colros may be damaged in such a way that it is unable to sail, or to motor or to steer. In which case David just has to stay with the boat until it arrives somewhere, which it will do eventually.

I realise that some of this is not particularly encouraging, and there may be other scenarios. A happy ending is still possible. Be sure that our thoughts are with you and all his friends.
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

Thank you Twister and Magna for those two excellent replies above.
Yes, Maybe David has 'done a Moitessier' - I can well understand why anybody might want to do that in this fast and furious modern day - just head for the deep blue ocean and become at one with the sea, rather like the proverbial Flying Dutchman.

I am sure that if Mr. Moitessier was out there today he would most definitely want to do the same again - especially when you think how hectic life is today compared to when he went round the world 40 years ago.

That is my romantic view - there are pragmatic views as well, as have been illustrated above, re possible dismasting or sinking.

But thinking positively, Colros must come close to being 'unsinkable', while acknowledging that no vessel is totally unsinkable (lets not get into Etap and Sadler discussions to the contrary here!)

So lets all hope that they reach a far distant land fall soon, or arrive in the New World after having drifted across, or are seen by a passing yacht or ship - every vessel with radio communications in the North Atlantic must know about them by now, and will be keeping an eye out to windward.
 
Re: Was Colros registered here?

Worth a try. Thanks for your help Dave.
He registered my boat on here so it could be a possibility.
I've just tried logging on using the username and password he used for lots of nautical things but they aren't recognised.
I'll try a phone call tomorrow.
Margaret
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

A quick read, and I know David read it too but then he read it in French. Each day is translated into wonderful broken English, best read with a French accent and much shrugging of the shoulders.
It's Eric Andlauer's log while he was doing the Jester Challenge and records his experiences and some of his emotions, although I realise it doesn't answer any of our questions. http://www.jesterinfo.org/ericandlauerjc.html
Margaret
 
Re: Possible rate of drift of the S/Y \'Colros\' ?

Doing a "Moitissier" is entirely plausible, my Atlantic crossing changed me (Set me free) at a very profound level.

If you have cast off, the quote that Ken mentions :"You do not ask a tame seagull why it needs to disappear from time to time toward the open sea. It goes, that's all." can make you weep with understanding.

I have emailed some cruising buddies in the area to keep a look out. I would not lose hope at the moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top