'Aquila' Lost Off of New Caledonia - Any News ?

[nhschneider]

This was just posted on the Pacific Puddle Jump Yahoo Group:

Posted 17-Nov 0800 Zulu on Mike Rafferty's facebook page, from Brisbane: "I
lost Aquila 80 miles west of New Caledonia. She went down in one hour. I was
rescued by a French Canadian boat Azzar. I am fine. I lost everything but
the clothes I am wearing and my passport. ... <snip>"

Has anyone heard any details?

[MarkJ]

No. Is his an Islander Freeport 36?

[PamlicoTraveler]

From latitude 38

Originally Posted by latitude38

17, 2010 – South Pacific
We sorry to report that another singlehanded cruiser has lost his boat. This one, in the South Pacific. Although full details are yet unknown, we received word this morning that retired school teacher Michael Rafferty recently lost his San Diego-based Islander Freeport 36 Aquila roughly 80 miles west of the New Caledonia island group.

[JiffyLube]

Michael Rafferty who owns Aquila is a member of FOGgers (Freeport Owners Group), and we've been following his journey since last year's Baja Ha Ha. Raff was joined on that Ha Ha with another Freeport 36 called Free Spirit, and Aquila stayed in Puerto Vallarta until April 4, 2010 when he embarked on the Pacific Puddle Jump to Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas. Raff worked his way throughout many pacific islands, before landing in Noumea, New Caledonia around November 4th or 6th. Raff didn't stay long because a weather window to get to Brisbane, Australia, and the last post we had from him was on November 8, 2010...until we received the fateful news of the sinking. We will have to wait until Raff is ready to talk, before we know exactly what went wrong.

[rebel heart]

That sucks.

[Southern Star]

It does indeed - my thoughts go out to him.

Brad

[Mimsy]

Thank goodness he is ok! Boats can be replaced, people not so much.

[Joli]

Very sorry to hear about the loss and condolences. But I'm very curious to hear the weather details and where the boat was leaking. An hour is a long time to sink, you would think repairs could be made prior to loosing the boat.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Joli

Very sorry to hear about the loss and condolences. But I'm very curious to hear the weather details and where the boat was leaking. An hour is a long time to sink, you would think repairs could be made prior to loosing the boat.

Single handing in open water it's not hard for the "pump/run-around-fixing-leak(s)/pump" process to breakdown.

[beowulfborealis]

Yikes. In the past 2 days there has been a cat flip, a cruiser sinking, and a cruiser getting swamped out. We live life on the edge, I guess.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by beowulfborealis

Yikes. In the past 2 days there has been a cat flip, a cruiser sinking, and a cruiser getting swamped out. We live life on the edge, I guess.

I agree with you, but just to add some context to this thread, I'm sure all of us live within a few miles of people who've died in the last two days in car accidents.

[Boracay]

The yacht Barakee also has sunk off Wollongong.

Anyone have any more details?

[Joli]

I guess I don't understand? We have 10 through hulls, it takes me 2 minutes to close all 10. After that where would the water come from? We can't loose the rudder because the quadrant stops it from falling out (it can break off but not fall out). If the keel falls off the ship should not be at sea, that can't be a source of sinking.

Where does the water come from?

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Single handing in open water it's not hard for the "pump/run-around-fixing-leak(s)/pump" process to breakdown.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Joli

I guess I don't understand? We have 10 through hulls, it takes me 2 minutes to close all 10. After that where would the water come from? We can't loose the rudder because the quadrant stops it from falling out (it can break off but not fall out). If the keel falls off the ship should not be at sea, that can't be a source of sinking.

Where does the water come from?

I have no idea on the specifics of what happened to this guy but just in recent memory I've read about these events happening:

- a whale jumped on a guy's boat (south africa, this year)
- a guy hit a whale (baja haha, last year)
- dismasted, mast punched a hole in the boat (socal, last year)
- guy ran snubber through the bottom botstay fitting, ripped bobstay out of boat, boat sank (mexico, two years ago?)
- thru-hull corroded, not enough to allow you to remove it cleanly and place a stopper in, just enough to cause a lot of seepage around the hole (san diego)
- 10'x12" gash from a day marker post/pipe that was sheared off, ~5' submerged (last week on the icw)


I'm just giving the guy the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't as simple as turning a handle and letting the auto bilge pump do its thing.

[sentientcj]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I have no idea on the specifics of what happened to this guy but just in recent memory I've read about these events happening:

- a whale jumped on a guy's boat (south africa, this year)

a whale jumped on a boat? i've got to worry about whales jumping on my boat now?!?!?

glad to hear this guy's okay.