Overdue Yacht ARTFUL DODGER

[fonsin]

Overdue Yacht ARTFUL DODGER sailing from Vanuatu to Solomon islands was expected to arrive to Gizo about 15th March.


Saling yacht, sloop, blue hull, White deck, black mast. (see photographs)


Sailing solo. Skipper Francisco Cajigal Morales, spanish nationality, 52 y/o.


Overdue reported by family. Yacht shipyard and model still not identified by family. Please help us to identify yacht model from the photographs attached.


Navigation was carried out either non-stop or calling islands in between.


Any report is welcomed


Thanks in advance

[cwyckham]

I'm sure others with much more experience than I have will chime in with Radio Nets to contact, etc.

When did it leave Vanuatu? What is the skipper's pattern of communication back to family? Are we confident that he isn't having the time of his life at some island and hasn't checked back in?

[fonsin]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

I'm sure others with much more experience than I have will chime in with Radio Nets to contact, etc.

When did it leave Vanuatu? What is the skipper's pattern of communication back to family? Are we confident that he isn't having the time of his life at some island and hasn't checked back in?

Thanks for yr interest.

I understand your precautionary questions.

Regarding the last point, we (family and friends ) are quite sure that something happened because he has always kept a regular communicaton with family over internet or phone when in areas with internet land access. Regular communication means in this case every week or 10 days, except during passages.
This has been specially kept over the last months due to a brother was severely ill and he was checking in regularly to ask about his illness progression.

As you can imagine MRCC's, authorities, consulates, etc have been already alerted.

Unfortunatly neither family nor friends know about communication facilities abord.
Cannot ascertain if there was EPIRB on board. Assumption is that there were no MF/HF station on board as he never communicate in this way.
Even although we have photographs we cannot ascertain yet about the builder / model of the yacht. We would like if somebody recognize it so we can give more data about the yacht to MRCC's

He arrived Vanuatu the 21st October 2013.
He reported to be at / around PORT VILA

He left Vanuatu on the 6th February 2014 destination GIZO island

[boatman61]

Best wishes on finding him safe and well...

[fonsin]

Any suggestion on other message boards for posting is also welcome.

Thanks

[xanadu]

Did anyone check the path of Cyclone Edna at that time?
6 February would come close to putting him fairly close to the path of it, hopefully he found shelter somewhere.

[Wolfy]

Does anyone know if there is an AIS on board?

[fonsin]

Originally Posted by Wolfy

Does anyone know if there is an AIS on board?

Unfortunatly Comms and Navigation equipment o/b is unknown.

The phographs posted are the better source of information about the yacht that we have. Even yacht builder and model is currently unknown.

Thanks for yr interest

[alya]

Hello,

I hope this is the same Francisco I met. The data and the pictures of his boat match what I do remember.

We met in Suvorov Atoll, Cook Islands and then for a longer time in Apia, Western Samoas. That was in 2012.
His boat has a VHF and no other terrestrial communication equipment that I can remember and certainly not an AIS at the time.
He did have an Iridium phone though.
In Apia we spent a day or two together to go over the operating procedures for the new Garmin GPS he had received recently.

If you need more information, I would be glad to provide it through private mail.

I hope this helps.

Jean-Pierre

[nimbex1970]

I find it interesting that myself and 4 others have viewed alya's profile. Interesting comunications indeed.

[boatman61]

?????
Bit cryptic...

[Oceanride007]

Lots of interesting islands, including Tikopia. Many isolated places in Solomans have ssb radio. There may be a net broadcast that everybody listens too (Could be affiliated with church or police or other) the locals are pretty sharp, I know of yachts picking up local hitchhikers (crew) for passage and then skipper gets invited in to the community. Possible explanation he has found paradise and is just taking a little longer. But then again I believe he must land in Honiara before he gets permission to visit those islands. And why wouldn't he exit Vanuatu from further North like Santos, lots of nice places in Northern Vanuatu.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by fonsin

Any suggestion on other message boards for posting is also welcome.

Thanks

Pacific Puddle Jump Yahoo group
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/pacificpuddlejump/‎

[nimbex1970]

Originally Posted by boatman61

?????
Bit cryptic...

It's like already asked and answered by a first poster, who recently joined and mysteriously knows the person... wasn't born yesterday.

[JPA Cate]

fonsin:

I don't know whether this will help at all, but for what it's worth, when he entered at Pt. Vila, he would have filled out forms for Customs that would include his boat type. Perhaps you could find that out from them, as well as a check out date and port (to confirm what you already have).

There are 2 clearance ports north of Pt. Vila: Santo, and Solo. While it is not strictly legal to sail directly to Tikopia from Vanuatu, it is tempting because the return to Tikopia from Honiara is straight into the trades, upwind.

Gizo, in the Solomons, has even less superstructure than Vanuatu. Both are very undeveloped, rustic places. If his satphone got wet, he would have little way of communicating.

I'm sorry, I cannot identify his boat make.

Good luck with this. I hope you find him and all is well.

Ann