Rimas 2nd circumnavigation attempt off Fiji

[Mahana]

Rimas Meleshyus is approaching Rambi Island, Fiji, on his 2nd circumnavigation attempt (this time in a Rawlson 30).

His last communication from his Delorme tracker was the end of July and rather disturbing. It's been more than a week of silence since then.

https://share.delorme.com/RimasMeleshyus

"Rimas
Jul 30, 20172:49:30 PM

No response from fiji coast guard yet. My tilles broken no contrals for boat its dangerous current pushing unknoow strong gale was couple daays ago at night
Speed: 1.87 mph Course: WSW
Elevation: 21.00 ft. Batt: Normal
Lat: -16.324075 Lon: -179.760703"

[GordMay]

“... Rimas Meleshyus [is] the Soviet-American “sailor” who is supposedly sailing around the world. More precisely, he is drifting from tow boat to tow boat around a single Pacific current, since he has yet to prove that he actually knows how to make a boat go in the direction of his choosing ...”
➥ https://sailingfortuitous.com/the-rimas-rebound/

“... Now I must admit something, Rimas is quite possibly the worst sailor I’ve ever met. His sailing record is truly abysmal! But on the other hand he’s one of the purest blue-water sailors I know. He loves the sea and the freedom it infuses into his soul. So good seamanship doesn’t really matter to him; he feels that he sails well enough ...”
➥ https://voyageofthemimsy.wordpress.c...rst-blog-post/
➥ https://voyageofthemimsy.wordpress.c.../rimus-update/
➥ https://voyageofthemimsy.wordpress.c...date-02-08-17/

[gamayun]

Rimas was befriended a couple years back when he was in the SF Bay area and I kept up with his "exploits" out of a fascination with his sheer tenacity and what appears to be a lot of crazy. I think there's a book to be had, similar to those written about Crowhurst who was both a tragically brilliant, but deeply flawed individual. I do wish Rimas safe sailing; however, I'm deeply conflicted about how he's going about it. I hope he never has to call in a rescue that puts his rescuers at peril.

[Mahana]

Thank you, GordMay.

I found Sailingfortuitous to have the best summary to date:

https://sailingfortuitous.com/lost-weekend-of-rimas/

gamayun- I also wish Rimas the best and hope he is able to write his own book about his exploits. I haven't read that he's keeping a log like Crowhurst (who actually gets credit for keeping two concurrent logs), but Rimas will have some outstanding pictures to draw upon starting in Alaska along with his social messaging.

He's certainly the antithesis of a prepper, though. His two attempts so far across the Pacific remind me of a game of Poohsticks, except that Rimas is playing the part of the sticks.

[gamayun]

And now more than two weeks with no word. The map shows he was headed straight for Vanua Levu. He would have been forced to land by now, right?

[gfh]

I've been following him pretty closely. (sailingfortuitous.com is me)

Regarding the thread title, I think this is his third circumnav attempt, depending on how you count them. At the very least, it's his third boat.

Boat 1: San Juan 24 Cesura (wrecked in Alaska)
Boat 2: San Juan 24 Pier Pressure (abandoned/sold? in American Samoa)
Boat 3: Rawson 30 Mimsy (currently missing off Fiji)

No word on his DeLorme tracker for two weeks is not a good sign, although it could just mean that the device has been lost or damaged. I have no firsthand knowledge, but from the charts and satellite imagery, there are a lot of treacherous-looking reefs and atolls in that part of the world. Hopefully, he found a safe place to wash up and is ok. He did an amazing job of wrecking successfully in Alaska in his first boat:

[Mahana]

Hard to count the number of attempts. On this forum the last thread about Rimas described his first attempt in Pier Pressure that ended off American Samoa. I counted departures from Hawaii, but didn't include his return to San Francisco. I defer to the experts.

He has certainly made the San Juan 24 famous. When I first saw that picture of Cesura in the sand in Alaska I thought the boat was a twin-keeled version (it wasn't, just came to rest that way). When you Google the SJ24 Rimas's cruise is right there at the No.2 spot after the specs in Sailboatdata.com thanks to close to 22,000 posts about him (or at his expense) in Sailing Anarchy

Sailing around the world in a San Juan 24 - Sailing Anarchy - Sailing Anarchy Forums

Or, wait, now it is the No. 1 spot (maybe that's my computer doing it?). He even beats out Wikipedia. In a way it's too bad he didn't stick with the San Juan.

Hopefully, he's being well-cared for in Fiji by now and can update all of us who are following him.

[gamayun]

I would in no way want to disparage someone who chooses to live their life a little differently from the rest of us, but I can't shake the feeling that following Rimas closely, and even commenting about his current situation, isn't a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It doesn't feel right. I will offer this final post with the hope that he stays safe in his journey and will share his story whenever (and wherever) he resurfaces next. Godspeed, Rimas

[Captain Bligh]

Originally Posted by gamayun

but I can't shake the feeling that following Rimas closely, and even commenting about his current situation, isn't a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It doesn't feel right.

so , watching Rimas is kind of like watching a full season of the Raiders playing football?

Seriously though, it doesnt bother you Rimas has no clue how to perform proper seamanship and needs to get rescued EVERYWHERE he goes (with the possible exception of Fiji)?

[zeehag]

hoping his situation has been exaggerated but in the event it has not., i hope he is wandering all over wherever he ended up trying to get some way to communicate with folks so we know if the train is still running or if it has wrecked.
only good thoughts and good wishes for his continuing saga

[Paul L]

I left Albert Bay, Rambi island this morning. On the NE corner of Rambi is Texas Reef that sticks out north into the ocean about 7 miles. Pretty much on his last course. I sailed along the reef fairly close in on the west side and over the top. Then along the east side of the reef to about half way. No signs of any wrecks on the reef.

[Paul L]

I plotted where I calculated his last position off the comments in the referenced blog. That put him on the edge of the Ringgold Isles reef, about 20 miles ENE of the reefs off Rambi. Here's a pic of the chart with Ringgold on the right side, red star for last known position, and the Texas Reef off Rambi on left.

[Mahana]

The Twitter Feed for Fiji's Maritime Search and Rescue (MSAR) indicated that Fiji's Navy was involved in a search for a yacht adrift north of Vanua Levu on August 5th.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Maritime...escue?src=hash

The Volunteer First Responder Fiji twitter stated that there was a MSAR aerial search currently in progress "up in the north".

https://twitter.com/VFRfiji

But there have been no further updates, nor any confirmation that they are indeed searching for Rimas. Also no news in the Fiji Times Online that I could find.

The Fiji Times Online | Latest Fiji News, Sports and Weather

[Mahana]

Paul- your chart's are very helpful.

More so the fact that you are actually searching!

To avoid any confusion, I referred to "Rambi Island" above, based on the information in Rimas's link to Delorne map imagery. I gather "Rambi" is phonetic for "Rabi" shown in your charts (thank you Wikipedia).

I hope that negative search results from the reefs lead to positive results on the islands.

[Paul L]

Mahana
The names on charts here in Fiji are spelt many different ways. Leaving out m's and n's is common.

It would be good if someone actually went to the last known position, as it is sitting on the Ringgold Reef edge. At high tide a vessel might, just might, make it over the reefs and into deep water. I wonder if the Fiji Navy checked that spot. I am now too far away to head up there, but am reasonably confident the vessel is not on the Texas Reef above Rambi.