A List of Unsuccessful Bluewater Passages

[Lagoon4us]

Good work, a great hearsay leveller with reported facts compiled. Hoping the list grows very slowly

[Boatguy30]

Actually sailing is likely far more fatal than private aviation or driving per capita. I'm not complaining and I agree with Atoll that more articles about this might keep some more of the wankers at home!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Anyone know whether anything was heard of:

"Spirit of Rema" (Edward (Eddie / Ed) Anker).......enroute from SA to OZ, left last Dec 26.

http://www.sail-world.com/news_print...cfm?Nid=111434

or

SV "Magic" Eastern pacific. Panama to Iles Marquises. August 2012.

Overdue Pacific SV "Magic" - Cruiser Log World Cruising & Sailing Forums

[svseachange]

Originally Posted by Mr B

When you compare the amount of sailing cruising yachts out there, Currently cruising, World Wide,

The amount of actual Sinkings Fades into insignificance,

In many cases, as has been said over and over again in this forum, the boat outlasts the crew. I think (but do not enough data to backup this statement) an extraordinarily small number of boats are lost due to sinking relative to the number of bluewater passages made.

However, it goes to show how exhausting and downright scary the sea can be. A good number of good boats on bluewater passages are abandoned because the crew is simply tired and/or scared.

[Jimbo485]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Actually sailing is likely far more fatal than private aviation or driving per capita. I'm not complaining and I agree with Atoll that more articles about this might keep some more of the wankers at home!

Check out FAQ #55 for the statistics about fatalities....

http://www.bethandevans.com/cruising_life.htm

[Jimbo485]

Sorry, about injuries...

[barnakiel]

If you browse ARC chronicles, you will find some pretty failure stories. I can remember a boat named Pelikan abandoned somewhere before Cabo Verde (it was said to have a rigging failure). Same year a racy one had a steering failure some 100 miles out of Las Palmas.

There was also a fine Amel named Albatros that went on the reef mid Coral Sea while participating in ARC World. Amazingly I saw her owner perhaps 2 years later in .... another Amel, with SAME name .... ouufffff. Lucky, intrepid, rich ... ;-)

b.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

If you browse ARC chronicles, you will find some pretty failure stories. I can remember a boat named Pelikan abandoned somewhere before Cabo Verde (it was said to have a rigging failure). Same year a racy one had a steering failure some 100 miles out of Las Palmas.

There was also a fine Amel named Albatros that went on the reef mid Coral Sea while participating in ARC World. Amazingly I saw her owner perhaps 2 years later in .... another Amel, with SAME name .... ouufffff. Lucky, intrepid, rich ... ;-)

b.

Nope just well insured

[kcmarcet]

The last entry down on the list. Really a 13 ft pocket cruiser? Who in their right mind would try that?

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Nope just well insured

Yes.

And to well insure an Amel 54 is more than uninsured cruisers' cruising kitty ;-)

b.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by kcmarcet

The last entry down on the list. Really a 13 ft pocket cruiser? Who in their right mind would try that?

But the boat turned up!

Am presently tweaking my list (mainly into Excel), the focus for me is for those boats which were / are missing.......but am also including a separate list for vessels that had a SAR launched, not every one is the world - just those which were either mid ocean or were on a cruise / extended voyage, even if the event happened near shore and / or at the start of the adventure!.........but on the SAR list am only going back to start of 2013.

........my reason for mentioning all that is whilst of course the numbers are too limited to provide reliable stats (and always will be), nonetheless one of the themes is pretty obvious:-

• That getting rescued increases chances of survival! - and for that issuing an alert from the boat is crucial, folks reporting overdue from ashore does not seem to provide much help as "events" happen when not overdue, and by the time they are overdue the "events" have long since happened.........and perhaps whilst not fitting in with "old man & the sea" ethos, pressing the Red Button early on (and having one onboard!) and being afloat when the SAR arrives (ideally on the boat) is one of the keys to survival...........I guess it doesn't really matter if the decision to press the button early on comes from a lifetime of experience or fear driven by ignorance - you both likely get ashore. Not always but likely.

[svseachange]

Originally Posted by kcmarcet

The last entry down on the list. Really a 13 ft pocket cruiser? Who in their right mind would try that?

In the missing boater's defence the passage was called "In search of the miraculous". We will never know what he found out there

[kcmarcet]

Originally Posted by shanedennis

In the missing boater's defence the passage was called "In search of the miraculous". We will never know what he found out there

"miraculous" would be if he actually made it. I remember reading something somewhere about a guy that did a major blue water passage or maybe it was even a circumnavigation in a 24 or 25 ft swing keel, I thought that was kind of crazy, but a 13 footer! WOW! Anyway, thanks for the list. It was interesting to read. Perhaps when I buy another boat I'll get to do some true water sailing">blue water sailing, hopefully you won't have to add me to your list.

[svseachange]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

If you browse ARC chronicles, you will find some pretty failure stories.

I started my list looking at old ARC data buy bit was hard to find much information about the boats with unsuccessful passages. It surprising hard to find data on boats that went missing pre-EPIRB.

Going forward all of the new forms of social media, including, cruisersforum.com, now make it possible to crowd sources meaningful data on most failed passages.

As Dave said, one of the advantages of activating an EPIRB is that focus is immediately attention on your potential demise. Some sailors just literally sail into the sunset and are never heard from again. People do not start getting concerned until well after their probable demise

[Boatguy30]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Anyone know whether anything was heard of:

"Spirit of Rema" (Edward (Eddie / Ed) Anker).......enroute from SA to OZ, left last Dec 26.

sail-world.com -- Urgent appeal for whereabouts of missing sailor Eddie Anker

or

SV "Magic" Eastern pacific. Panama to Iles Marquises. August 2012.

Overdue Pacific SV "Magic" - Cruiser Log World Cruising & Sailing Forums

The bit between panama and the Galapagos can be troublesome due to piracy. There were several incidents in 2000-2004. We did the trip in 2005. The best sailing course is generally south along the cost then a swing right near the equator. This of course runs you into more potential trouble off Columbia. We more or less did the rhumbline and motored quite a bit, but had no issues and fuel was 1/2 the price in Galapagos as panama and 1/6 price of the marquesas so it all was sweet as