From Carol.
We were witness yesterday to a real tragedy of the boat "After You" first getting stuck on the reef and then after many hours and the efforts of many fellow sailors, being pulled off only to sink within 2 min. Fortunately, realizing that may happen, much of the most valuable items were offloaded. Gregory went out at 3 am when he heard another boat asking for help. They had to find a way around the reef in our anchorage as he was stuck on the other side, no small feat on a moonless night. Two dingies came to him but there was no way to pull the boat off with the combined horsepower and darkness.A boat with an experienced salvage operator was called to come at daybreak.He could not get them off and the big guns, “Gabriel”, the boat I cooked for, came in. “Gabriel” is 65’ US flagged motor boat with 2 350 hps engines. After a couple of hours of jockeying lines from boat to boat in the surf by those assisting, they coordinated a plan to pull her off and get her to shallow water to try and repair the crack in the hull made by the reef.We watched both now back on the boat (Gregory was out there helping most of the day) with goosbumps as we listened to John (“Gabriel” skipper) and Derrek ( “Celtic Dancer” Irish flagged sailboat skipper, who coordinated the operation) over the radio " She moved 5 feet!" We watched as she slowly moved and then her mast became upright!Whoooooohoooooo we screamed joyfully that the seemingly impossible had been achieved.The feeling was too short-lived as we saw her start to sink as she was being towed.I cannot explain the berklept at this sight.Then she disappeared.The collective grief was palpable even though most of us never met the guy.He was adopted by another boat till he figures out what to do next. His plan was to go around the world in his boat.He was not insured as he was a single hander and they are considered a bad risk.The other boaters here were so forthcoming and put themselves at risk to help, some lost property as their dingie flipped in the surf and damaged the motor.Sad to say, I had nothing to offer personally.The guy, Keith is doing as well as can be expected and held a postmortem on the radio today, thanking everyone and taking accounts of losses so he could reimburse people.He even seems to have a sense of humor intact and is more grateful to be alive than devastated.That is it for now... Gotta start a challah. Shabbat is coming!
From Gregory.
That was heartbreaking experience. I could never believe that one can get so chilled in tropics, but after hours of being soaked by ocean spray and exposed to winds of 20-25 kts, I was really cold. Carol warmed some water so I could “shower” it over me in cockpit between trips to the wreck or outside the reef.
Everybody came together as a community in a matter of hours, even though most of us never met or even heard of each other. French, American, British, German, Finish, Irish, Swedish sailors and Kuna fisherman just came to help with no reward and plenty of risk to share. It is amazing what people can do with no authorities to depend on.
The first “Mayday” call came at 2:30 AM, and the last view of the “After You” came at 5:30 PM as she sunk rapidly in 150’ of water. She was a beauty (may her soul rest in peace).
We were witness yesterday to a real tragedy of the boat "After You" first getting stuck on the reef and then after many hours and the efforts of many fellow sailors, being pulled off only to sink within 2 min. Fortunately, realizing that may happen, much of the most valuable items were offloaded. Gregory went out at 3 am when he heard another boat asking for help. They had to find a way around the reef in our anchorage as he was stuck on the other side, no small feat on a moonless night. Two dingies came to him but there was no way to pull the boat off with the combined horsepower and darkness.A boat with an experienced salvage operator was called to come at daybreak.He could not get them off and the big guns, “Gabriel”, the boat I cooked for, came in. “Gabriel” is 65’ US flagged motor boat with 2 350 hps engines. After a couple of hours of jockeying lines from boat to boat in the surf by those assisting, they coordinated a plan to pull her off and get her to shallow water to try and repair the crack in the hull made by the reef.We watched both now back on the boat (Gregory was out there helping most of the day) with goosbumps as we listened to John (“Gabriel” skipper) and Derrek ( “Celtic Dancer” Irish flagged sailboat skipper, who coordinated the operation) over the radio " She moved 5 feet!" We watched as she slowly moved and then her mast became upright!Whoooooohoooooo we screamed joyfully that the seemingly impossible had been achieved.The feeling was too short-lived as we saw her start to sink as she was being towed.I cannot explain the berklept at this sight.Then she disappeared.The collective grief was palpable even though most of us never met the guy.He was adopted by another boat till he figures out what to do next. His plan was to go around the world in his boat.He was not insured as he was a single hander and they are considered a bad risk.The other boaters here were so forthcoming and put themselves at risk to help, some lost property as their dingie flipped in the surf and damaged the motor.Sad to say, I had nothing to offer personally.The guy, Keith is doing as well as can be expected and held a postmortem on the radio today, thanking everyone and taking accounts of losses so he could reimburse people.He even seems to have a sense of humor intact and is more grateful to be alive than devastated.That is it for now... Gotta start a challah. Shabbat is coming!
From Gregory.
That was heartbreaking experience. I could never believe that one can get so chilled in tropics, but after hours of being soaked by ocean spray and exposed to winds of 20-25 kts, I was really cold. Carol warmed some water so I could “shower” it over me in cockpit between trips to the wreck or outside the reef.
Everybody came together as a community in a matter of hours, even though most of us never met or even heard of each other. French, American, British, German, Finish, Irish, Swedish sailors and Kuna fisherman just came to help with no reward and plenty of risk to share. It is amazing what people can do with no authorities to depend on.
The first “Mayday” call came at 2:30 AM, and the last view of the “After You” came at 5:30 PM as she sunk rapidly in 150’ of water. She was a beauty (may her soul rest in peace).
posted by @piplzchoice at 7:15 AM
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