Missing yachtswoman in South west.

chris46 said:
could you do a 20 hour stint at the helm of a 30 foot boat at sea,without a break and probably very little to eat ,mental fatigue etc etc and at the end of it just feel " a bit tired "
and have "plenty of stamina in reserve"
i found those claims to be slightly exaggerated and maybe i am being very cynical.
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Ive done it more than once, singlehanded, and at the helm the whole time because the weather is too strong for the autohelm, adrenaline kicks in so you keep going, yes exhausting, but if its scary, theres no going to sleep because of the adrenaline pumping, and there was enough reserve stamina to find an anchorage, and drop an anchor and set an anchor alarm before colapsing in a heap.
I am very sad for the ladies family, there is every chance that she was a very proficient sailor who did the sensible thing in getting some training when taking on a new boat with new systems like reefing and the like.
If there was a survey done, then there will be a record of the boat and systems conditions.
 
Too late - thread spotted by a friend

Hello everyone on the thread.

As a personal friend of the missing sailor, Mary Unwin, I have read the many constructive, but still speculative, posts with a deep concern for her wellbeing and a fading hope of her survival. (I've tried to ignore the inane posts and digressions)
Mary is an ex RN PO, with considerable sailing knowledge and experience. I don't know the full extent of this but recall her mentioning crewing on some tall ships and particularly also on TS Royalist, so it was not necessarily her day job. I am ex-RAF and gliding fraternity, so I have often teased her about the Senior Service in a friendly way!
She is in good health and is an excellent swimmer, even went on a "swimming with seals" trip off Lundy in September.
Her husband Carol had a childhood accident that restricted his ability to join Mary on her trip.
I realise that she may have fallen (perhaps OB) or suffered heart attack, or became incapacitated in some way, or maybe placed too much reliance on the Autohelm 2000 and slept through whatever trajedy that may have occurred, but like all of you, I would just be speculating further. There is as yet no absolute confirmation that wreckage found is from "Seagair", although I recognise that it is a likely outcome.
This lady has been in the best of form particularly for the last few weeks, delighted with her re-marriage and the support of her children and friends. There is no Reg Perrin plot.
I still retain the hope that she has survived and that you would kindly have some consideration for her husband and her children. My thoughts and prayers are with them at this sad, difficult and uncertain time.

Brian
 
DeepJoy said:
I watched the BBC South West news, where this was the lead story. Based on the photos of the interior of the boat they showed and the shots of the wreckage, the cushions appear to be the same colour. The Coastguard spokesperson said that they believe the wreckage they have found at Sennen is that of the missing boat, and the pictures appear to support this.

The husband was interviewed, and seemed to me like he'd had a stroke at some time, which suggests that he wouldn't have been capable of sailing with her on the trip.

This is all very sad. My thoughts are with the family - I sail single handed, and seeing something like this unfold is very sobering.
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But OK, to drive all the way back to Bideford?
 
jimi said:
It was a very short way into the proposed voyage and I suspect that had she wanted shelter, she would have tyrned round and gone back. I can see a couple of likely scenarios. 1) Navigational error leading to grounding or damage. If damage she may have tried to run ashore at Sennen and got caught on the reef.
2) Fallen overboard, maybe with dying wind she had tried to shake out a reef and slipped?

All speculation and I suspect we could add our own pet theories. However it is a tragic occurrence and reminds us all of the potential dangersof our chosen hobby. I must admit that I admire this lady's pluck in attempting this.
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I think your two scenarios would have to figure pretty highly on the list of possibilities.

Nav error not so difficult to understand. She hadn't had a lot of time with the boat. How much time did she have to do a proper passage plan? Plug waypoints into the (new and possibly unfamiliar) GPS? What charts did she have on board? I don't know that coast very well - only sailed past it about 4 times - but I do know that if you are sailing along an unfamiliar coast at night without a chart plotter you had better have done some preparation. Dark, possibly tired and disoriented could easily lead to hitting something solid. With an onshore swell it wouldn't take long from "bang" to become something much worse. Without recent experience, and without being familiar with the boat, would she have had time to send off a mayday? Would it have occurred to her to do so?

Also, if she hasn't been sailing much recently, and was on an unfamiliar boat, there are a lot of factors that could conspire to send her over the side. Darkness, tiredness, disorientation, unfamiliar footing, unfamiliar motion.

Experienced people can fall over and drown just like anyone else. Even if they are wearing survival suits. (Here in English.)

I hope for her family's sake that her body is found.
 
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There are often pot buoys in the area around Lands End, some of them can be very difficult to see. I will only go inside at night if I have crew to keep 100% watch for buoys and have enough wind to sail.
Allan
 
Allan said:
There are often pot buoys in the area around Lands End, some of them can be very difficult to see. I will only go inside at night if I have crew to keep 100% watch for buoys and have enough wind to sail.
Allan
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None inside at this time of year, but if you look on AIS for the three crabbers working there you can see where they may be outside near or in the TSS.
 
bbg said:
Nav error not so difficult to understand. She hadn't had a lot of time with the boat. How much time did she have to do a proper passage plan? Plug waypoints into the (new and possibly unfamiliar) GPS? What charts did she have on board?
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Haven't seen any reports of what charts or nav equipment she took with her. The brokerage details did not list any fixed GPS or plotter on the boat ('nav equipment' was limited to depth, log and a compass). Perhaps she might have taken a handheld unit on board.
 
Good morning one and all.
I hope the "I've-done-this, She-couldn't-have-done-that" brigade have finished and done with their irrelevent threading.
The time will come (if the lady is found safe and still sailing) for praise (hopefully) or recriminations, but now/here is not the time for burbling-on about the "unknown".

So, are the searches still goin-on? Any more wreckage? Forensic investigation of wreckage positive/negative/not done yet?
I would hope that the BBC may include something about action/progress in at least one of their interminably boring and futile News?? programmes.
 
Allan said:
There are often pot buoys in the area around Lands End, some of them can be very difficult to see. I will only go inside at night if I have crew to keep 100% watch for buoys and have enough wind to sail.
Allan
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Difficult to see how pot markers would cause a catastrophic failure in a short time frame - so quick that she was unable to raise the alarm.
 
I didn't know there was no GPS. All the same, Tater Dhu, Runnelstone Buoy, Wolf, Seven Stones, Longships, Pendeen, Godrevy, Trevose, plenty of info available and clear conditions, simple bearings on these would fix where you aren't, if not where you are exactly, but still a lot of concentration needed, and an awful lot if vis goes. I've got a YM but I haven't done any chartwork since, it would need brushing up, so would hers.
If it were me I would have made sure the dark hours were spent well clear of the N coast and sculled about off Bideford if the tide was wrong. No foul weather gear? I think she simply did not prepare for this trip.
The safest way would be, (need W winds), hop to St Ives (anchor outside) hop to Padstow (floating dock), hop to Bideford between high waters. Trouble is, all the usual weather systems go from SW to NW winds.
"From Pendeen point to Hartland light,
Is a watery grave by day or night."
 
chris46 said:
all i could find was this news video
http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/story/2012-10-15/search-for-missing-yachtswoman/
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Thaks for that. The long cushion shown certainly matches the upholstery on my Moody 31 (there cushions at the back of the saloon berths), and the rectangular piece of bevelled ply with rounded corners also matches the covers for the under-berth lockers.

I don't recognize the thick sections of what looks like foam-cored GRP, though. The decks and cabin top of the Moody 31 are balsa cored GRP; the hull is solid GRP. The only foam I can think of on board is the insulation for the calorifier and the cold-box.

The Moody has a substantial, well-designed gas-locker at the after end of the cockpit, with drainage overboard. Of course, this may have been changed, but there is usually only a single gas connection to the cooker, which is solid copper tubing except for the final flexible connection to the cooker - which is armoured hose on mine. Although a gas leak is not inconceivable, I can't see how it would happen without anyone noticing a small of gas; there is little "dead space" below the floorboards where gas could accumulate. However, not everyone can smell gas.
 
I have copied and paste

This is from a restricted new member, not sure if it is true or not but thought it worth posting.

I will talk to Nat to see if she wants to approve this new user intimately.

Cheers


Hello everyone on the thread.

As a personal friend of the missing sailor, Mary Unwin, I have read the many constructive, but still speculative, posts with a deep concern for her wellbeing and a fading hope of her survival. (I've tried to ignore the inane posts and digressions)
Mary is an ex RN PO, with considerable sailing knowledge and experience. I don't know the full extent of this but recall her mentioning crewing on some tall ships and particularly also on TS Royalist, so it was not necessarily her day job. I am ex-RAF and gliding fraternity, so I have often teased her about the Senior Service in a friendly way!
She is in good health and is an excellent swimmer, even went on a "swimming with seals" trip off Lundy in September.
Her husband Carol had a childhood accident that restricted his ability to join Mary on her trip.
I realise that she may have fallen (perhaps OB) or suffered heart attack, or became incapacitated in some way, or maybe placed too much reliance on the Autohelm 2000 and slept through whatever trajedy that may have occurred, but like all of you, I would just be speculating further. There is as yet no absolute confirmation that wreckage found is from "Seagair", although I recognise that it is a likely outcome.
This lady has been in the best of form particularly for the last few weeks, delighted with her re-marriage and the support of her children and friends. There is no Reg Perrin plot.
I still retain the hope that she has survived and that you would kindly have some consideration for her husband and her children. My thoughts and prayers are with them at this sad, difficult and uncertain time.

Brian
 
maby said:
There was a question mark over the reliability of the VHF
Click to expand...

Was there? First I've heard of it, and I've listened/watched virtually every local news report, nothing mentioned in any of them.
Btw, the broker interviewed last night was definitely male, re a post further up, and the cox of the Sennen lifeboat confirmed last night that the search had been called off.
It's very rough down here in Devon today, no doubt pretty bad around Lands End so I expect any remaining wreckage will be pretty well dispersed.
 
Richard Shead said:
This is from a restricted new member, not sure if it is true or not but thought it worth posting.

I will talk to Nat to see if she wants to approve this new user intimately.

Cheers


Hello everyone on the thread.

As a personal friend of the missing sailor, Mary Unwin, I have read the many constructive, but still speculative, posts with a deep concern for her wellbeing and a fading hope of her survival. (I've tried to ignore the inane posts and digressions)
Mary is an ex RN PO, with considerable sailing knowledge and experience. I don't know the full extent of this but recall her mentioning crewing on some tall ships and particularly also on TS Royalist, so it was not necessarily her day job. I am ex-RAF and gliding fraternity, so I have often teased her about the Senior Service in a friendly way!
She is in good health and is an excellent swimmer, even went on a "swimming with seals" trip off Lundy in September.
Her husband Carol had a childhood accident that restricted his ability to join Mary on her trip.
I realise that she may have fallen (perhaps OB) or suffered heart attack, or became incapacitated in some way, or maybe placed too much reliance on the Autohelm 2000 and slept through whatever trajedy that may have occurred, but like all of you, I would just be speculating further. There is as yet no absolute confirmation that wreckage found is from "Seagair", although I recognise that it is a likely outcome.
This lady has been in the best of form particularly for the last few weeks, delighted with her re-marriage and the support of her children and friends. There is no Reg Perrin plot.
I still retain the hope that she has survived and that you would kindly have some consideration for her husband and her children. My thoughts and prayers are with them at this sad, difficult and uncertain time.

Brian
Click to expand...

Hello Brian,

very sorry about your friend Mary, but thanks for posting that.

Andy
 
maby said:
There was a question mark over the reliability of the VHF
Click to expand...

?

Can't find reference to this. Please clarify.

VHF not the sole source of raising alarm. As far as I can tell we have no reason to believe that she did not have mobile phone coverage. That is before discussions of flares; controlled fire etc. etc.
 
longjohnsilver said:
Was there? First I've heard of it, and I've listened/watched virtually every local news report, nothing mentioned in any of them.
Btw, the broker interviewed last night was definitely male, re a post further up, and the cox of the Sennen lifeboat confirmed last night that the search had been called off.
It's very rough down here in Devon today, no doubt pretty bad around Lands End so I expect any remaining wreckage will be pretty well dispersed.
Click to expand...

I think it has been mentioned a few times higher up this thread - not sure of the original sources, but I have seen it mentioned elsewhere on the web.
 
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