Cruisers Forum
 


Closed Thread
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 20-11-2009, 14:14   #1
Registered User
 
Vasco's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Toronto
Boat: CS36Merlin, "La Belle Aurore"
Posts: 7,557
Solo Sailor Missing

Coast guard searches for adventurer feared lost at sea - The Globe and Mail
__________________
Rick I
Toronto in summer, Bahamas in winter.
Vasco is offline  
Old 20-11-2009, 14:21   #2
Registered User
 
Stillraining's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Puget Sound
Boat: Irwin 41 CC Ketch
Posts: 2,878
As always this is bad news...Hope he is just blown off course and bobbing about soon to pop back on radar.
__________________
"Go simple, go large!".

Relationships are everything to me...everything else in life is just a tool to enhance them.
Stillraining is offline  
Old 21-11-2009, 13:33   #3
Registered User
 
Connemara's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Boat: Mirage 27 in Toronto; Wright 10 in Auckland
Posts: 771
Images: 2
French CBC says he has a bunch of safety gear but not a "balise de secours" which translates as emergency beacon, or EPIRB, I guess.
Connemara is offline  
Old 22-11-2009, 03:53   #4
Long Range Cruiser
 
MarkJ's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Australian living on "Sea Life" currently in England.
Boat: Beneteau 393 "Sea Life"
Posts: 12,822
Images: 25
Quote:
Mr. Marcoux’s only means of communication is a short-range VHF radio. He couldn’t afford a satellite telephone or electronic radio beacon, according to his sister, Lucy Milroy.
So what else could'nt he afford?
Obviously couldn't afford to look at the pilot chart either. More wiskers on the wind rose this time of year that a cat.

Do we have to be nice on this forum to every cretin who sails from Seychelles toward Somalia or leaves Nova Scottia in the middle of winter?

Have a look at the pilot chart gale percentages and note the bit on the extratropical cyclone paths.... one romps straight over Nova Scottia.

With the weather rose pilot the 2 fat red lines are the percentage wave hight above 12 feet.

And he was heading direct to Bermuda so it would have included a Gulfstream crossing.

Words fail me.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Capture.JPG
Views:	381
Size:	129.0 KB
ID:	11237   Click image for larger version

Name:	Capture1.JPG
Views:	351
Size:	51.8 KB
ID:	11238  

__________________
Notes on a Circumnavigation.
OurLifeAtSea.com

Somalia Pirates and our Convoy
MarkJ is offline  
Old 22-11-2009, 04:06   #5
Eternal Member

Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,046
Images: 4
As a matter of fact, it's the precisely RIGHT TIME to leave Halifax enroute to Bermuda and south. End of hurricane season. Many, many boats do this every year.

In fact, the annual migration from East Coast ports towards Bermuda and "I-65" generally involves hundreds of boats.

However, as MarkJ noted, things in the North Atlantic at this time of year can be very boisterous, so one has to be well prepared for whatever comes along.

Bill
btrayfors is offline  
Old 22-11-2009, 05:14   #6
Senior Cruiser
 
skipmac's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: 29° 49.16’ N 82° 25.82’ W
Boat: Pearson 422
Posts: 16,306
Based just on weather concerns, I would respectfully disagree that late fall is the right time to sail south from anywhere in the NE US or SE Canada. This schedule is right only in the context of a personal preference to spend the summer in the north and winter in FL or Carribbean, hence the seasonal exodus south in late fall every year.

If one is looking for the safest time to head south offshore the best weather window is late spring when the season for nor'easters is over and before hurricane season begins. Of course this puts the boat south in hurricane season and does not allow the traditional summer in the north, winter in the south lifestyle. For those that choose that lifestyle it has to be accepted that this includes a much higher risk of really bad weather on the trip south. Looking at the pilot charts and the history of lost and damaged boats on the southbound trip I think this is undeniable. Not saying it's wrong to make this choice, but it is a choice and like many that come in the cruising lifestyle, it does not come without risk.
__________________
The water is always bluer on the other side of the ocean.
Sometimes it's necessary to state the obvious for the benefit of the oblivious.
Rust is the poor man's Loctite.
skipmac is offline  
Old 22-11-2009, 05:42   #7
Registered User
 
Blue Stocking's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: St. Georges, Bda
Boat: Rhodes Reliant 41ft
Posts: 4,131
When was the most recent revision and up-dating to the pilot charts for this area of ocean.
As a 65yr old born Bermudian, who has sailed these waters around Bermuda for 55yrs, I can tell you with certainty that the weather systems HAVE changed in the past 20 yrs.
Our "prevailing" south-westerly hardly exists any more.
The old story about going South this time of year i.e. sail SE from Bermuda for 2 days, flop over and then run to the Islands, does not happen any more.
Through-out the summer and fall we experience ESE and SE wind, some times quite strong, for far longer periods, and with more regularity, than 20 - 30 yrs ago.
Those cold (for Bermuda) Canadian lows don't seem to get as far South as they used to, and our NE atlantic gales have moved more to late Feb/March/ early April.
At this moment, I am looking at my boat and others facing SE on the moorings.
Not normal for this time of year.
Don't know where they are searching for Mr. Marcoux, but the lack of USCG choppers and C-130 activity around here (I live close to the airport and can see the field) tells me, its not close by.
Wish him luck.
Blue Stocking is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 06:44   #8
Registered User
 
Connemara's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Boat: Mirage 27 in Toronto; Wright 10 in Auckland
Posts: 771
Images: 2
They appear to have called off the aerial search.

Connemara
Connemara is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 07:06   #9
Senior Cruiser
 
sneuman's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: May 2003
Location: Chesapeake Bay
Boat: Sabre 28-2
Posts: 3,197
Images: 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue Stocking View Post
When was the most recent revision and up-dating to the pilot charts for this area of ocean.
As a 65yr old born Bermudian, who has sailed these waters around Bermuda for 55yrs, I can tell you with certainty that the weather systems HAVE changed in the past 20 yrs.
Our "prevailing" south-westerly hardly exists any more.
The old story about going South this time of year i.e. sail SE from Bermuda for 2 days, flop over and then run to the Islands, does not happen any more.
Through-out the summer and fall we experience ESE and SE wind, some times quite strong, for far longer periods, and with more regularity, than 20 - 30 yrs ago.
Those cold (for Bermuda) Canadian lows don't seem to get as far South as they used to, and our NE atlantic gales have moved more to late Feb/March/ early April.
At this moment, I am looking at my boat and others facing SE on the moorings.
Not normal for this time of year.
Don't know where they are searching for Mr. Marcoux, but the lack of USCG choppers and C-130 activity around here (I live close to the airport and can see the field) tells me, its not close by.
Wish him luck.
This is interesting. I know it's bold to jump to such conclusions, but do you think the change has any relation to climate change?

That's not a political question, btw, so please let's not go down that path.
__________________
Voyage of Symbiosis: https://svsymbiosis.blogspot.com/
sneuman is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 09:03   #10
CF Adviser

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Wherever our boat is; Playa Zaragoza, Isla Margarita
Boat: 1994 Solaris Sunstream 40
Posts: 2,449
Mark, we don't have to be nice, but surely it is unnecessary to refer to him as a cretin, or to suggest that he couldn't 'afford' to look at the pilot charts. As has been pointed out, many boats depart the Canadian and US east coast for Bermuda in early November. Are there risks? Of course. But it is decidedly not the suicide voyage that you are attempting to portray it as.

The lack of an EPIRB, SSB radio and sat phone simply put him in the position most long-distance cruisers were in a few decades ago. And perhaps he takes the Blondie Hasler approach - that when one goes to sea, you make the decisions and do not rely upon others to bail you out when things go wrong. Blondie refused to have a radio for precisely this reason.

It sounds as if he spent his money on ensuring that the boat was seaworthy and ultimately, he didn't feel the need to use his limited resources on long-distance communications/rescue equipment. Not a choice that I would make, but one that I respect.

Here's to hoping that for he, his family and the rest of the sailing 'community', he has survived his latest adventure.

Brad
Southern Star is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 10:06   #11
Registered User
 
James S's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: May 2008
Location: We're technically refugees from our home in Yemen now living in Lebenon
Boat: 1978 CT48
Posts: 5,964
Images: 139
Quote:
Originally Posted by Southern Star View Post
Mark, we don't have to be nice, but surely it is unnecessary to refer to him as a cretin, or to suggest that he couldn't 'afford' to look at the pilot charts. As has been pointed out, many boats depart the Canadian and US east coast for Bermuda in early November. Are there risks? Of course. But it is decidedly not the suicide voyage that you are attempting to portray it as.

The lack of an EPIRB, SSB radio and sat phone simply put him in the position most long-distance cruisers were in a few decades ago. And perhaps he takes the Blondie Hasler approach - that when one goes to sea, you make the decisions and do not rely upon others to bail you out when things go wrong. Blondie refused to have a radio for precisely this reason.

It sounds as if he spent his money on ensuring that the boat was seaworthy and ultimately, he didn't feel the need to use his limited resources on long-distance communications/rescue equipment. Not a choice that I would make, but one that I respect.

Here's to hoping that for he, his family and the rest of the sailing 'community', he has survived his latest adventure.

Brad
Well said Brad.
__________________
James
S/V Arctic Lady
I love my boat, I can't afford not to!
James S is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 10:23   #12
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Central New Jersey USA
Boat: Cape Dory 28 (Sold Nov 2019)
Posts: 236
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkJ View Post
... Do we have to be nice ... to every cretin who sails from Seychelles toward Somalia or leaves Nova Scottia in the middle of winter? ... Words fail me ...
Many would agree that your words have failed you.
__________________
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
kerrydeare is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 11:38   #13
Registered User

Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Boat: Albin Ballad; 1978; 30'-00" "SVINT II"
Posts: 87
Images: 6
Sad to say, but I have to agree with Mark.
Anyone who tries out the trip from Nova Scotia (where I live) at this time of the year, has to be more prepared... a short range VHF will just not cut it . The water temperature alone is enough to have me haul my boat 2 weeks ago.
__________________
When I'm not around, look at the horizon, that's where you'll find me.
Vic de Beer is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 12:22   #14
CF Adviser

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Wherever our boat is; Playa Zaragoza, Isla Margarita
Boat: 1994 Solaris Sunstream 40
Posts: 2,449
Vic, he left more than two weeks ago and I am confident that he had the pilot charts and knew what the water and air temperatures were like. Again, some rather well-respected sailors in the recent past have chosen to go to sea without long-range communication equipment; and, while it would not be your choice (nor mine), that decision does not speak to bad seamanship on the part of Hubert Marcoux any more than it did for Blondie Hasler.

Brad
Southern Star is offline  
Old 23-11-2009, 15:02   #15
Registered User
 
Blue Stocking's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: St. Georges, Bda
Boat: Rhodes Reliant 41ft
Posts: 4,131
Quote:
Originally Posted by sneuman View Post
This is interesting. I know it's bold to jump to such conclusions, but do you think the change has any relation to climate change?

That's not a political question, btw, so please let's not go down that path.
Don't wish to hi-jack this thread, but as Mark referred to the info on the Pilot Charts, I thought I would pose my question as to their accuracy. Multiple sources on the net (I could not find an Official source) refer to these being constructed from information gathered during the 18th and 19th centuries.
We can all arrive at our own conclusion how this jibes with climate change
SO, what do we do?
Do we scrap these charts, and insist that all sailors, who intend to go out of sight of land, carry modern electronic weather tracking devices, and if you don't, we will not initiate rescue attempts?
OR, do we trust and respect each others right to assess our own ability to get by with minimal support data?
Why would any of us knowingly subject ourselves to the discomfort which often accompanies our voyages, when a cheap plane ticket would do a better job for us. Rhetorical question, don't bother to answer.
We go to sea because it fills a need in us which is infinitely individualized.
The satisfying of that need starts way before we board the boat.
Blue Stocking is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Solo Sailor Overdue in S. Pacific! hollyjb Cruising News & Events 12 20-09-2009 17:41
17 Year-Old Solo Sailor Passing Wind General Sailing Forum 5 18-07-2009 13:03
Solo World Sailor Checking In S/V Mika Meets & Greets 19 13-06-2008 10:42
San Francisco Sailor Missing Trim50 General Sailing Forum 25 09-09-2007 13:06

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 09:26.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.