VO5
Well-Known Member
Iron Horse Dismasted in Mid Ocean.
Does anyone here have any news ?
Does anyone here have any news ?
Iron Horse Dismasted in Mid Ocean.
- Thread starter VO5
- Start date
RichardS
N/A
Is Iron Horse a sailing boat? It sounds like a motor yacht.
Richard
Richard
VO5
Well-Known Member
A sailing boat I am told. Dismasted.
Tradewinds
Well-Known Member
From the OCC Facebook page (I hope posting this is OK)
http://www.clicanoo.re/497070-un-petrolier-sauve-deux-plaisanciers-septuagenaires.html
More info on the loss of Ironhorse last week: Alfred and Rosemarie Alecio safe, but all very sad. Translation:
“A tanker saves two cruisers in their seventies who were in difficulty
On Tuesday 27 October, two English cruisers on board a yacht to the south east of Madagascar were saved by the Marshall Islands flagged tanker Bittern.
At about 09.55 the Regional Operational Safety and Surveillance Centre of La Reunion (CROSS) received a distress signal originating from the emergency locator beacon of the British flagged yacht Iron Horse. On board was a cruising couple, both in their seventies, whose boat had suffered damage to propulsion and manoeuvrability. CROSS relayed the distress signal via HF radio and satellite phone requesting help from vessels in the vicinity who could divert to assist.
The Liberian flagged bulk carrier Fleves diverted to assist but the tanker Bittern was nearby and also diverted to pick up the English couple. Early on Tuesday afternoon they were rescued safe and sound and are currently on route to Singapore.”
From the accompanying photograph in the article it’s obvious Iron Horse was in fact very sadly dismasted.
http://www.clicanoo.re/497070-un-petrolier-sauve-deux-plaisanciers-septuagenaires.html
More info on the loss of Ironhorse last week: Alfred and Rosemarie Alecio safe, but all very sad. Translation:
“A tanker saves two cruisers in their seventies who were in difficulty
On Tuesday 27 October, two English cruisers on board a yacht to the south east of Madagascar were saved by the Marshall Islands flagged tanker Bittern.
At about 09.55 the Regional Operational Safety and Surveillance Centre of La Reunion (CROSS) received a distress signal originating from the emergency locator beacon of the British flagged yacht Iron Horse. On board was a cruising couple, both in their seventies, whose boat had suffered damage to propulsion and manoeuvrability. CROSS relayed the distress signal via HF radio and satellite phone requesting help from vessels in the vicinity who could divert to assist.
The Liberian flagged bulk carrier Fleves diverted to assist but the tanker Bittern was nearby and also diverted to pick up the English couple. Early on Tuesday afternoon they were rescued safe and sound and are currently on route to Singapore.”
From the accompanying photograph in the article it’s obvious Iron Horse was in fact very sadly dismasted.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
What a shame. That looks the sort of boat that would stand up to anything. Glad no lives lost.
prv
Well-Known Member
The name rings a faint bell. It's not one of the new Wylo boats that were being built commercially, is it?
Pete
Pete
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Ric
Well-Known Member
Forestay failure?
One reason that I like double fore-staid "slutters" is that it is very hard to on an ocean voyage to keep a check on chafe on the top of the forestay from the furling gear.
One reason that I like double fore-staid "slutters" is that it is very hard to on an ocean voyage to keep a check on chafe on the top of the forestay from the furling gear.
MikeCC
Well-Known Member
They have been cruising for 20 years or so. I'd only just published an article by Rosemarie about their voyages in our club magazine. It had gone to print before we heard about this. You can read it here www.exe-sailing-club.org/index.php/about/exe-news. Autumn 15 edition, page 38 on.
ionbard
Active Member
Orion Jim
Well-Known Member
Having retained most of the rig and sails I'm surprised they were so quick to abandon ship. More details would be helpful.
William_H
Well-Known Member
I agree there must have been further problems to make them abandon their loved boat. The first thing to do in a dismasting is to get the wreckage on board then remove the sails. This last can be difficult with bolt rope in a mast track as the track gets squeezed together. if you have slugs then these must be cut off.
From their they would have considered a jury rig of some sort using stump of mast or boom as a low rig.
However all this is ok in gentle weather but not so easy in a storm.
Their age and fitness may have been a reason to give up we just don't know.
My guess is that the rigging wire failed with age as SS wire can do. Always interesting to know why dismasted. Anyway thanks for that link to Exe sialing club and the story on iron horse. olewill
Jock89
Well-Known Member
Yes, I feel so sorry for them, I hope to follow a similiar cruising route some day. I assume there must have been a good reason why they couldn't jury-rig something.? I would hate to have to abandon my 'home' like that when it's all I've got. I'd like to think that I would'nt have tried to economise on my Insurance, & was covered for the area.
A bit unpredictable out there & a lot of people have been caught out & lost their yachts, big cargo ships too.!
In the '70's I knew of quite a few South African (& others) well-found yachts that were at the bottom of the Mozambique Channel.
A bit unpredictable out there & a lot of people have been caught out & lost their yachts, big cargo ships too.!
In the '70's I knew of quite a few South African (& others) well-found yachts that were at the bottom of the Mozambique Channel.
VO5
Well-Known Member
Alfred and Rosemary Celecia are a Gibraltarian couple.
I personally do not know them but a friend of mine here does.
It was he who suggested I could make enquiries and that is the reason for me starting this thread.
I am told they may visit Gibraltar in the near future and that I will have an opportunity to meet them.
I will have an opportunity then to be given a first hand account of their ordeal.
One is always very touched, very saddened, by the loss of any vessel, it must be very traumatic indeed, and hopes it is adequately insured.
I personally do not know them but a friend of mine here does.
It was he who suggested I could make enquiries and that is the reason for me starting this thread.
I am told they may visit Gibraltar in the near future and that I will have an opportunity to meet them.
I will have an opportunity then to be given a first hand account of their ordeal.
One is always very touched, very saddened, by the loss of any vessel, it must be very traumatic indeed, and hopes it is adequately insured.
VO5
Well-Known Member
The Mozanbique Channel is one of the most dangerous seas in the world.
This is because under certain meteorological conditions monster waves appear with frightening frequency.
I have seen pictures of a tanker with the hull section near the bow stove in on the starboard side above the waterline and stove out on the port side leaving a massive hole the size of half a tennis court. It appears aft of the collision bulkhead so it is a mystery to me how it managed to remain afloat. It is not the only case.
JayBee
Well-Known Member
Many ships and yachts have been lost in the Mozambique Channel due to monster waves generated in the interactions between the Aghulas current, weather conditions and seabed topography.
I heard a first hand account of one such wave from a deck officer in the British general cargo ship Ben Cruachan.
He described the experience of apparently steaming downhill for a very long way on the back of one wave and meeting a towering, near vertical wall of water behind the following trough. The ship was severely damaged and very lucky to have survived, although subsequently declared a constructive total loss.
I heard a first hand account of one such wave from a deck officer in the British general cargo ship Ben Cruachan.
He described the experience of apparently steaming downhill for a very long way on the back of one wave and meeting a towering, near vertical wall of water behind the following trough. The ship was severely damaged and very lucky to have survived, although subsequently declared a constructive total loss.
PuffTheMagicDragon
Well-Known Member
They seem to have lost their bowsprit.
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Biggles Wader
Well-Known Member
She was repaired and continued to sail under Ben Line after this damage.I recall seeing her in the Suez Canal in about 1977 no longer sporting the Concord style droop snoot.
JayBee
Well-Known Member
Biggles, you are correct - lazy reliance on ancient memory to blame.
She was scrapped in 1980 at the relatively young age of 12 and not as a constructive total loss, partly because of her expensive steam turbine fuel consumption, which made motor ships increasingly popular about then.
She was scrapped in 1980 at the relatively young age of 12 and not as a constructive total loss, partly because of her expensive steam turbine fuel consumption, which made motor ships increasingly popular about then.
VO5
Well-Known Member
[/IMG]
They seem to have lost their bowsprit.[/QUOTE]
I have had another look in their club commentary.
It seems to me that the inner jib was rigged outboard.
If the inner jib had been rigged inboard and the bowsprit snapped, then possibly the mast might not have collapsed.
But the break in the bowsprit (the picture shows a bit of varnished bowsprit still protruding from the bow) must have been abaft of the lower end of the inner forestay. I presume that the bowsprit snapped taking down both forestays in one go. I am only guessing, however.