Merged- Windigo Abandoned. Please Help

[Vasco]

Reposting a plea for help from Steve and Tania who had to abandon Windigo, a Beneteau 393.


Recently Steve & I (Tania) were on passage between Tonga and New Zealand and we were hit by a severe storm and rolled, we substained a fare amount of damage to our home of the last 3yrs, she has no steering (possibly), no bilge, no battery (possibly..as we left the motor running) no lights., and a broken starboard hatch. SHE CAN SAIL all rigging and sails in excellent condition.

We are uninsured (unfortunatley) and would love to see her again!!!

Windigo has been spotted on 17 November 2012

Position
24 degrees, 49.3min South
179 degrees, 49.2min East

SSR 141391 ON STERN

Windigo has a British flag and she has her dingy and motor still on board
Her Dodger is gone but the frame is half there
Her HATCH needs to be closed, if anyone gets close enough to her.
Our bilge pump broke down during storm, so we are worried about more flooding
If anyone spots her can they please email us on sywindigo@hotmail.com

Steve & Tania are now in Auckland, heading to Opua to THANK the most amazing people Bruce & Marcelle on sailing yacht ADVENTURE BOUND who came to our side risking their own lives, we will be forever grateful.

Thank you
Tania & Steve

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Reposting a plea for help from Steve and Tania who had to abandon Windigo, a Beneteau 393.


Recently Steve & I (Tania) were on passage between Tonga and New Zealand and we were hit by a severe storm and rolled, we substained a fare amount of damage to our home of the last 3yrs, she has no steering (possibly), no bilge, no battery (possibly..as we left the motor running) no lights., and a broken starboard hatch. SHE CAN SAIL all rigging and sails in excellent condition.

We are uninsured (unfortunatley) and would love to see her again!!!

Windigo has been spotted on 17 November 2012

Position
24 degrees, 49.3min South
179 degrees, 49.2min East

SSR 141391 ON STERN

Windigo has a British flag and she has her dingy and motor still on board
Her Dodger is gone but the frame is half there
Her HATCH needs to be closed, if anyone gets close enough to her.
Our bilge pump broke down during storm, so we are worried about more flooding
If anyone spots her can they please email us on sywindigo@hotmail.com

Steve & Tania are now in Auckland, heading to Opua to THANK the most amazing people Bruce & Marcelle on sailing yacht ADVENTURE BOUND who came to our side risking their own lives, we will be forever grateful.

Thank you
Tania & Steve

Having lost a real nice handmade lapstrake dingy in a gale over ten years ago. I am still hoping to get a call out of the blue from someone in Europe who might have come across it on a beach somewhere. So I can imagine how Tania and Steve feel about their boat. Hope they get reunited with it and are back on board soon.

[windigo steve]

PLEASE send to anyone you know who may be in the area who know someone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recently Steve & I (Tania) were on passage between Tonga and New Zealand and we were hit by a severe storm and rolled, we substained a fare amount of damage to our home of the last 3yrs, she has no steering (possibly), no bilge, no battery (possibly..as we left the motor running) no lights., and a broken starboard hatch. SHE CAN SAIL all rigging and sails in excellent condition.
We are uninsured (unfortunatley) and would love to see her again!!!

Windigo has been spotted on 17 November 2012

Position
24 degrees, 49.3min South
179 degrees, 49.2min East

SSR 141391 ON STERN
Windigo has a British flag and she has her dingy and motor still on board
Her Dodger is gone but the frame is half there
Her HATCH needs to be closed, if anyone gets close enough to her.
Our bilge pump broke down during storm, so we are worried about more flooding
If anyone spots her can they please email us on sywindigo@hotmail.com

Steve & Tania are now in Auckland, heading to Opua to THANK the most amazing people Bruce & Marcelle on sailing yacht ADVENTURE BOUND who came to our side risking their own lives, we will be forever grateful.

Thank you
Tania & Steve

[ozskipper]

Very sad. Hopefully she will pop up in a nice protected cove for you to return to .

[GaryMayo]

What kind of boat is this?

Glad you are safe.

[windigo steve]

Thank you everyone! This is our very 1st time on a thread type site, so excuse the amateur muddle.

WINDIGO is a 393 Beneteau and she is nearly new, I will try to see if I can post pictures.

She has a white hull with a blue stripe and blue head sail cover, all her sails are down.

WINDIGO Maybe heading for New Zealand or Australia will all depend upon weather and which current flow she picks up, she is currently estimated to be drifting at approx 20nm per day.

If anyone knows anything ....do we have CURRENT EXPERTS or WEATHER EXPERTS on the forum???? We would love to hear from you
Thanks
T & S

[windigo steve]

www.sailwindigo.com


this is our website *now not up to date, but it will show Windigo*

Come and join us on Windigo a 2006 39 ft Beneteau - Home

[noelex 77]

Welcome to the forum

I hope you get your boat back. There are many cases of boats surviving so I think your chances are very good.
It may be worth preparing for the legal consequences of a salvage claim with some background reading. Searching the forum for previous threads on salvage would be a help, but don't be afraid to start a new thread with any specific questions.

When you feel up to it an account of the circumstances of the accident would be of great interest and would have valuable lessons for all of us.

Good luck.

[noelex 77]

I think this is the yacht.

[Wotname]

Welcome aboard even under such difficult conditions. I am sorry that you have lost your home, let's hope this is just a temporary situation and you will be re-united with her.

Meanwhile you have your lives and each other and these two things are all you really need at this time of loss. Stay close .

[GaryMayo]

Such a wonderful yacht. Hope she is returned to you.

Please fill us in on the bitter details.

[S/V Alchemy]

While I'm sure there are cruisers who might take this boat under tow or even put a crew on it to try and sail it into an anchorage, doesn't this sort of thing fall under the laws of salvage?

If one cruiser salvages another cruiser's abandoned boat, do the usual salvage practices apply?

I do not imply greed or taking advantage of another's loss here, but if their boat is damaged, possibly half-full of water and hundreds of miles from a well-serviced harbour, "finding it" would be a non-trivial service worthy of compensation.

Having said that, if we found and could identify an abandoned yacht, I would attempt to reach the owners via the closest authorities, but unless I found it bobbing off an easily entered harbour in fine weather, my instinct would be to open the seacocks as a dead 40 footer is a serious hazard to navigation.

Am I wrong here?

[Boracay]

This ancient brain has her arriving in Oz round Byron Bay just after Christmas.

Based on NE wind, 20 nm/day, west setting current.

[xymotic]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

While I'm sure there are cruisers who might take this boat under tow or even put a crew on it to try and sail it into an anchorage, doesn't this sort of thing fall under the laws of salvage?

If one cruiser salvages another cruiser's abandoned boat, do the usual salvage practices apply?

I do not imply greed or taking advantage of another's loss here, but if their boat is damaged, possibly half-full of water and hundreds of miles from a well-serviced harbour, "finding it" would be a non-trivial service worthy of compensation.

Having said that, if we found and could identify an abandoned yacht, I would attempt to reach the owners via the closest authorities, but unless I found it bobbing off an easily entered harbour in fine weather, my instinct would be to open the seacocks as a dead 40 footer is a serious hazard to navigation.

Am I wrong here?

Half full of water, yeah probably.

[MysticGringo]

Originally Posted by windigo steve

Recently Steve & I (Tania) were on passage between Tonga and New Zealand and we were hit by a severe storm and rolled, we substained a fare amount of damage to our home of the last 3yrs, she has no steering (possibly), no bilge, no battery (possibly..as we left the motor running) no lights., and a broken starboard hatch. SHE CAN SAIL all rigging and sails in excellent condition.
We are uninsured (unfortunatley) and would love to see her again!!!

...

Windigo has a British flag and she has her dingy and motor still on board
Her Dodger is gone but the frame is half there
Her HATCH needs to be closed, if anyone gets close enough to her.
Our bilge pump broke down during storm, so we are worried about more flooding

I can't imagine what this must feel like... knowing your boat is out there floating around without you.

I'm confused about a few things and would love to hear how this came about. You say she rolled but all her rigging is intact? She has no power, but the motor was running (theoretically charging the batteries... unless the batteries came loose during the roll)? The roll didn't take the dinghy or it's motor? You are uninsured, yet you charter your boat out for 300-400 euro a day? The bilge pump broke, but you only have 1... and no manual pumps?

I'm not trying to be an ass... just certain things aren't lining up in my mind. If I were you I'd be getting all the grib files I can for that area and try to make an educated guess as to where the boat is going.

I hope you find her.