John Batchelor - Canadian Sailor Missing In Bahamas

[witchcraft]

Thanks Mike I contacted them also but have not heard anything.
Witchcraft

[Erik C]

A starving dog seems to indicate he has not been on board for quite a number of days.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Erik C

A starving dog seems to indicate he has not been on board for quite a number of days.

Also... a dog alone for a while is gonna start ragging things sooner or later no matter how trained.....
Got a feeling he went for a dip and didn't make it back on board for some reason...

[wingtip]

Witchcraft, Joy B is currently kept at our sailing club here in GB. I can inquire about Dingo with the police at the marine station, since i know them pretty well.

Is the family looking to recover the dog?

Hopefully John is found.

david.valentine AT grandbahamasailingclub.org

[sailingmonica]

As far as I know, John has no family, in Canada or elsewhere. However, according to what he told us a while back, he moved here from England way back when and only became a Canadian citizen a few years ago when travelling under a British passport became difficult.

John was extremely intelligent and highly educated but rejected the rules imposed by the society, thus living alone on his boat year round with no phone, no address, no car, no ties to any place. He retired some 10 years ago and travelled back and forth between Canada and the Bahamas since.

He was not a boat bum, he was a free man, doing what he liked.

Lost at sea would have been the way he would have wanted it.

See you later, sailor!

[witchcraft]

John was estranged from his family. His friends would like to figure out a way to be certain Dingo is taken care of. There is a home waiting for him with people he knows.
John did NOT go for a swim. He did not enjoy swimming particularily. He could swim but did NOT.
I wonder was the boat open or closed when it was found?
Fair Winds
Witchcraft

[witchcraft]

Wingtip,
I sent you an email.
Thanks for your offer. John's friends appreciate it.
Fair Winds
Witchcraft

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by witchcraft

John was estranged from his family. His friends would like to figure out a way to be certain Dingo is taken care of. There is a home waiting for him with people he knows.
John did NOT go for a swim. He did not enjoy swimming particularily. He could swim but did NOT.
I wonder was the boat open or closed when it was found?
Fair Winds
Witchcraft

Hey.... just going on info given... boat in one spot for days... dinghy of the stern... swim ladder down... trashed cabin and starving dog...
To me this does not add up to foul play... sorry.
folks have baths in the sea then rinse off on board, have a pee over the side drunk and fall in, or faint/spasm... fall in...
Sad but it happens... and we should all be aware of this...
Don't get me wrong... sounds like he and I live on a similar page... lotsa friends but avoid the family...
I accept that one day... Big Sh^8s gonna happen to me alone...
Thats life... and Death
And if your friend reappears... show him my post and odds on he'll agree..

[witchcraft]

boatman I am certainly not annoyed by your dip comment. I do however know his habits when sailing. Swimming at Memory Rock is not one of them. It is not a good place to swim. In fact when we were sailing with in that area , he reminded us not to swim there if we choose to anchor there.
Something happened, we may never know what, but going for a swim was not likely the scenario.
Fair Winds
Witchcraft

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, David (wingtip).

[Viagem]

I feel horrible. At daybreak on December 30th we entered the Bahama bank just south of Memory Rock. We saw a sailboat anchored just to the north of us. We figured someone was just resting before continuing on. We spent about a week in Spanish Cay and headed back to Ft Lauderdale. As we were coming off the bank just south of Memory Rock, again we saw a sailboat anchored just north of our track. I couldn't positively identify it as the same boat and because it was anchored near a shallow part of the bank, I didn't want to get to close to it. What should I have done?

[Wotname]

Don't second guess yourself. You had no reason to do anything different. Hindsight is not always a good thing.

[Ex-Wanderlove]

Hello All.

Although I don't sail anymore, I owned and sailed an Alberg 30 for 14 years. I met John in Oshawa ON when he first brought Dingo home to Joy B.

I continued to see John years after and Dingo was always by his side...

He was as described... disenchanted with authority and seemed quite happy whenever I saw him taking life on simpler more grounded (<--- bad word for a sailing group) terms.

Thank you for this column. It is nice to read so many nice comments about John.

Mike

[Waterway Guide]

I'm doing some more research today. Here's a pic of the Joy B in Oriental in 2002 apparently right after he built the pilothouse (that's not John at the mast...just a helping hand).

[Ex-Wanderlove]

When I met John, it was in 2001 or 2002, and indeed he had just built the pilot house. He was quite an inventor and build an outboard motor for his dingy from a discarded Weed Wacker!