ALERT ALERT ALERT
"ENTRANT UPDATE: GGR CODE RED Position @ 1630 UTC 46° 55.29S, 037° 14.7 W Vessel
GPS SOG 3.4 & Heading: @ 36.85Weather: SW 50 knots, gusting 70 knots 6.5M SEA
SITUATION : PUFFIN has activated his
EPIRB....GGR
TRACKING now set at 15 minutes. At 1540UTC Ian Herbert Jones
SKIPPER PUFFIN rang GGR on
Iridium phone to advise that he was in extreme
weather with no sail up trying to hand steer downwind , the yacht was laid over often ...There was a small amount of
water down below. It was a bad connection and I
lost contact.
At 1550UTC IAN called again...he had activated his
EPIRB , could not launch his drogue as the
cockpit hatch was underwater, was under bare poles, had been washed out of the
cockpit twice and was struggling to keep the
boat sailing down
wind. He explained he activated the EPIRB as he could not initially make
Iridium phone contact and wanted someone to know his situation. I advised him he must launch his drogue if possible to assist down
wind control...and that the extreme weather will last at least another five hours. He is trying to do that. There is only 8 inches of
water over the
cabin sole. He thinks this is leakage through the cockpit...the manual
bilge pump is working so he is not sinking. The
mast is secure. All
safety equipment onboard is secure. His
electrical system is low in
power.
I asked him to call again in one hour. Approx 1700UTC. He is using the iridium phone in the cockpit. MRCC may have trouble trying to ring him because of the
noise and he may switch off the phone between contacts. I advised him to leave the EPIRB on. The activated EPIRB is listed as coming from his abandoned ship GRAB bag...this is unusual and I believe a mistake. He is on the
boat and it would be the EPIRB from in the Yachts
cabin....he has NOT abandoned the ship. I made Ian aware that he needs to manage this extreme weather best possible until it starts to drop in five hours.
SITUATION : ALERT BUTTON ON YB3 Manually Pressed. ACTIVATED! At 1725UTC Message received at GGR from PUFFIN YELLOW-BRICK YB3
satellite tracking and texting unit advising " Button ALERT.... 46., 57.250S 037, 12.382W " This means that Ian has manually gone to the YB3 unit and manually lifted a
safety cover and pressed the
distress alert button of the YB3
Satellite texting unit. This is recognised by GGR as a
distress protocol for all GGR entrants. This would suggest he is definitely in a distress situation. He had not called GGR at the requested 1 hour update time. He was 25 Minutes overdue from that requested Phone Update. At the time of the ALERT BUTTON activation the Windy
forecast weather was SW40Kt Gusting 88Kt and 7.7mtr SEA.
MRCC
Argentina is now managing the
Rescue operation. Further updates as they come available."
From: Golden Globe
Race
4 hours ago
"🇬🇧 ENTRANT UPDATE: GGR CODE RED Position @ 1630 UTC 46° 55.29S, 037° 14.7 W Vessel
GPS SOG 3.4 & Heading: @ 36.85Weather: SW 50 knots, gusting 70 knots 6.5M SEA
SITUATION : PUFFIN has activated his EPIRB....GGR TRACKING now set at 15 minutes. At 1540UTC Ian Herbert Jones
SKIPPER PUFFIN rang GGR on Iridium phone to advise that he was in extreme weather with no sail up trying to hand steer downwind , the yacht was laid over often ...There was a small amount of water down below. It was a bad connection and I
lost contact.
At 1550UTC IAN called again...he had activated his EPIRB ,
could not launch his drogue as the cockpit hatch was underwater, was under bare poles, had been washed out of the cockpit twice and was struggling to keep the boat sailing down wind. He explained he activated the EPIRB as he could not initially make Iridium phone contact and wanted someone to know his situation. I advised him
he must launch his drogue if possible to assist down wind control...and that the extreme weather will last at least another five hours. He is trying to do that. There is only 8 inches of water over the
cabin sole. He thinks this is leakage through the cockpit...the manual
bilge pump is working so he is not sinking. The
mast is secure. All
safety equipment onboard is secure. His
electrical system is low in
power.
I asked him to call again in one hour. Approx 1700UTC. He is using the iridium phone in the cockpit. MRCC may have trouble trying to ring him because of the
noise and he may switch off the phone between contacts. I advised him to leave the EPIRB on. The activated EPIRB is listed as coming from his abandoned ship GRAB bag...this is unusual and I believe a mistake. He is on the boat and it would be the EPIRB from in the Yachts
cabin....he has NOT abandoned the ship. I made Ian aware that he needs to manage this extreme weather best possible until it starts to drop in five hours.
SITUATION : ALERT BUTTON ON YB3 Manually Pressed. ACTIVATED! At 1725UTC Message received at GGR from PUFFIN YELLOW-BRICK YB3 satellite tracking and texting unit advising " Button ALERT.... 46., 57.250S 037, 12.382W " This means that Ian has manually gone to the YB3 unit and manually lifted a
safety cover and pressed the distress alert button of the YB3 Satellite texting unit. This is recognised by GGR as a distress protocol for all GGR entrants. This would suggest he is definitely in a distress situation. He had not called GGR at the requested 1 hour update time. He was 25 Minutes overdue from that requested Phone Update. At the time of the ALERT BUTTON activation the Windy
forecast weather was SW40Kt Gusting 88Kt and 7.7mtr SEA.
MRCC
Argentina is now managing the
Rescue operation. Further updates as they come available."
From me....
The leading half of the vigorous system will have produced very large windwaves from essentially the NW.
After that 'half' went through, the wind backed swiftly to SW, remaining strong to violent. This will have produced very large windwaves from the SW which, crossing those from NW produced earlier, will generate 'washing machine conditions' just about impossible to steer through.
It sounds from the above he had not managed to deploy his drogue in good time - i.e. while it was still possible - for it was reported as still in 'the cockpit locker'.
Recall the old adage about spare
anchor chain and remaining in the locker....?