The ARC - is my Gast Flabbered?

HoratioHB

HoratioHB

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Apologies if this had already been discussed but in the latest YM there is an article about the ARC and it states that one skipper put out a Mayday and abandoned his boat 350 miles out because 'he had a line around his prop'.
Please please someone tell me that there was more to the story than that??!!!
 
The ARC website only mentioned 2 abandonments. One through rudder loss, the other with rig failure.

Do you have a name for the boat in question?
 
Pelican ......... home built Roberts steel I think ... dodgy stay and I think something round the prop so they couldn't motor. They did seem to give up a bit quick to my mind but then, I wasn't there!
 
Here is the report...

The five crew members of British yacht Pelican were evacuated from onboard their 53 foot Roberts design last last night (Tuesday 01 December) following a rig failure, approximately 300 nautical miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. The Singapore flagged merchant vessel Crimson Mars diverted to assist the yacht at the request of MRCC Falmouth, after skipper Darryl Saxton called a MayDay yesterday afternoon citing the 'unacceptable risk to his crew' of remaining aboard, as the yacht was also unable to motor and the rig was considered to be in a dangerous condition following several failures. MRCC Falmouth and MRCC Ponta Delgada (Azores) were involved in co-ordinating the evacuation of the yacht with the merchant ship.
 
I suppose its the consequence of the 'better safe than sorry' nonsense that is spouted when someone is challenged for calling a mayday in a sailing vessel with engine failure.

Yes, probably, the safest thing to do was to abandon the boat and step onto a nice safe ship. But if you want to be better safe than sorry then better not set out to sail across the Atlantic.

I wasn't there, but I am pretty confident that I would not have abandoned a boat with a 'rig failure' and no engine. Plenty of boats have been sailed across oceans following a dis-masting. It is hard to imagine what the rig failure was that could not be patched and bodged with spare string and spars.
 
It's a while ago now, I wasn't there, and I've never sailed beyond Ireland-, but I do remember seeing a remark somewhere that there appeared to be a temptation for some ARC owners to carry less experienced crew for the Trade Wind leg. Since they were West of the Cape Verdes, had they already taken on a joyride crew?

I don't know what the weather was like, but there was time and sea room to wait a day before going over the side to sort out the prop. I presume someone could swim, and that they had a pair of goggles and perhaps a wetsuit on board. However, they must have convinced MRCC Falmouth to do more than just keep in touch awaiting further developments, so perhaps we don't have enough facts to judge.

Has the 'make do and mend' attitude that used to differentiate the average sailing folk from most motorboaters gone by the board? (Not all motorboaters - for a start 'Knockers-J' pootled around in a motor cruiser at times, and I've met others that I'd count as proper seamen).

Since most skippers go on courses these days rather than learning on the job from their betters, is there something missing in the curricula for these courses?

Bring back the Admiralty promotion boards of Nelson's day (:=>

I've had a horrible thought: are owners/skippers now looking over their shoulders worrying about being sued by anyone in their crew (or even a by member of their crew's family)? Isn't that one of the reasons we cast off from the mainland when we can?
 
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chabrenas said:
I don't know what the weather was like, but there was time and sea room to wait a day before going over the side to sort out the prop. I presume someone could swim, and that they had a pair of goggles and perhaps a wetsuit on board.
Click to expand...

Might be worth reading the whole thread.
 
There seems to be a belief by those on a 'rally' that there is safety in numbers. WRONG!!!! : as soon as you go to sea you are alone with your boat.

Rallys encourage the inexperienced to attempt crossings that they would not otherwise attempt.

Frankly I think that abandoning a yacht that is floating in the Atlantic with a damaged shroud and a fouled prop is pathetic. That yacht is now floating danger.

The current and the wind would have got a bare rigged crewed boat to the Caribbean. What about setting up a spare halyard or two to support the mast?

I hope the insurance company doesn't pay up ...... if it was insured that is.
 
TradewindSailor said:
Rallys encourage the inexperienced to attempt crossings that they would not otherwise attempt.
Click to expand...

I believe that is a myth. In my experience of ARC and ARC Europe, no one took part who wouldn't have been competent to do the crossings on their own.

I think we should know more about exactly went wrong before calling them all these names.
 
snowleopard said:
I believe that is a myth. In my experience of ARC and ARC Europe, no one took part who wouldn't have been competent to do the crossings on their own ......
Click to expand...

I think that the vast majority are capable as you describe but I have experience of an ARC skipper who was incompetent and blundered through (1988 ARC) and used those exact words "safety in numbers."

However, is that skipper incompetent now? No he is not and has sailed professionally all his working life.

I remember one yacht who had a small emergency rudder, brackets, tools and the design all thought through so he could mount it all if required. This type of attitude was rare in the 80s and I suspect it is even rarer now.
 
A couple of thoughts occur after following this thread....

1. Nothing wrong with doing the ARC (or not doing the ARC) but an organised rally is probably quite likely to appeal to those in need of a confidence boost (alongside the regular hands who do it several times and those who just fancy the social side).

I have met plenty of people who have done several ARC rallies and quite a lot who have broken their ocean crossing virginity with the ARC before going independent. However, I haven't met an independent who has later reverted to rallies for their subsequent trips or even return voyage to Europe.

Hence, anyone lacking in confidence with the money to afford it might well gravitate towards the ARC - possibly cash rich, time poor people who pay someone else to sort out practical problems on their boat. These are probably the people who are most likely to call for help rather than being able to work out a jury system for themselves. Their lack of confidence would only add to the sense of panic if things started to go wrong.

2. I cannot comment on what happened to the Bruce Roberts and I would certainly hope that these problems wouldn't stop me finishing my passage.

However, this crew deserve some credit for giving it a go and actually setting out on an Atlantic crossing - unlike some who sit at home reading the books and others who have their boats shipped to the sun and who are still quick to criticise.
 
Skents said:
A couple of thoughts occur after following this thread....

I have met plenty of people who have done several ARC rallies and quite a lot who have broken their ocean crossing virginity with the ARC before going independent. However, I haven't met an independent who has later reverted to rallies for their subsequent trips or even return voyage to Europe.
Click to expand...
I've lost count of the number of Transats TCM has made on Mojomo but I think I'm correct in saying this year is the first year he has crossed with the ARC and I also think I'm correct in saying he joined the ARC for the partying and pirating action and not because he needed any confidence boost.

Ditto myself, I've Transatted 7 times on my own boats (plus one delivery) including once with the ARC when I was actually bound for Brazil but on my way down the Portuguese coast I bumped into several great boats/crews bound for the start of the ARC99 that I decided to join them. I certainly didn't join for the comfort factor.

I don't have any problems with ARC participants, as a generalisation they all seem pretty confident and experienced to me. I do agree that people abandon their boats far too soon when the chips are down though but I don't think that's necessarily an ARC thing, it's just that in any measure of 200 yachts (individually or as an ARC fleet) there are bound to be one or two who can't hack it when things go bad.

Cheers, Brian.
 
flobbergob said:
I do agree that people abandon their boats far too soon when the chips are down though but I don't think that's necessarily an ARC thing,
Click to expand...

The commonest scenario seems to be ARC boats rescuing non-ARC crews. One of our friends took part in a rescue of a non-ARC boat where one of the crew with bipolar disorder stopped taking his meds and repeatedly tried to jump overboard.
 
And then there was the Nicholson 32 in the ARC a few years ago, who was abandoned when her skipper had mental health problems - the 3 crew were taken off by Mirabella, and the boat was left to drift. I heard that she eventually washed up on a reef (off Anguilla ?)

BTW, I think the ARC is brilliant, never mind that St Lucia 'stole' it from us in the late 80's - altho I will admit that they had much better facilities, ie a marina and calm anchorage, compared to us.
I sailed in the first ARC in '86, and had an excellent time, in the Canaries, on the way across, and here.
 
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