Missing Sailboat

[clausont]

My wife just brought me info heard on ch 16 the the Coast Guard is looking for a missing sailboat off the coast of Oregon, possibly a family, sailing from British Columbia to California. Coast Guard is requesting anyone in recent contact with this sailboat please contact the Coast Guard. I did not hear this first hand, my wife did hear this on our VHF. I have heard no other information on this.
If I am wrong in this or if there is any further news, please inform keep me informed.

[clausont]

Update:
Coast Guard reports that the 53' vessel "Contessa 7" is missing. Last known position approximately 800 miles southwest of Astoria, Oregon with 1 person aboard. I was unable to copy the lat - long that was given in time. I will try to get that on the next announcement. The Coast Guard announced that they are restarting the search for this vessel. They are requesting all mariners that may sight this vessel to report on it and give all assistance possible.

[mike d.]

clausont !!!!!


don't we all !!!!!!

[44'cruisingcat]

Hope he's OK.

[GordMay]

Vessel Name: “CONTESSA 7" ~ Lost or Overdue
1 Person on Board: MR. HAOSHI YARARA, 67 YEARS OLD.
Vessel Make: 53FT, SWAN.
Description: WHITE WITH BLUE STRIPES. SLOOP. WHITE SAILS, SINGLE MAST.
Homeport: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN. REGISTRATION NUMBER: 235-31714.
Itinerary : JAPAN TO VANCOUVER B.C. OR SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
LAST CONTACTED ON OCTOBER 18
IN POSITION 44-11N x 142-30W,
APPROXIMATELY 800NM WSW PORTLAND, OREGON.
WHEN LAST HEARD FROM ON 18 OCTOBER, RUDDER WAS DISABLED, USING
EMERGENCY TILLER. OUT OF DIESEL FUEL, DAMAGED MAIN SAIL.

[clausont]

Thanks for the update Gord. Hope he is found OK.

[senormechanico]

At the time of my post, not a good time to be out there with a busted rudder...

AccuWeather.com - Standard Infrared Satellite Images

[GreyRaven]

Agreed regarding the busted rudder and damaged mail sail. Have been following this closely during the afternoon and have determined that the wind is presumably only moderate in the yacht's current position, assuming a Southwesterly course of three knots and the time which has passed since the yacht’s last known position was known.

The higher wind speeds of that low pressure area appear to be occurring above 45 N.

I can only hope so.

See “Marine Observations” under

Oceanweather Inc: Current Marine Data

[GreyRaven]

I find that it decidedly sucks that with all the satellites up there monitoring God and the world, for which we (both Americans and Europeans) are paying untold sums of taxpayer money, and close observation is taking place 24/7/365, in order to ostensibly monitor terrorists/drug runners/illegal immigrants/citizens, that it is not possible to use these tools to also find Mr. Yarara on his 53 ft. Swan, whose life and ship are in danger.

I believe that to use these resources only for “restricted purposes” and to ignore other lifesaving applications, is a misuse of those abilities and should be considered criminal negligence.

It’s not as if a human had to check several hundred thousand square kilometers of open sea. That’s what the computers do and are there for. “Contessa 7” could have been easily located long ago and help could have been deployed.

The fact that it hasn’t happened is disgusting.

Main thing is, they can read your license plates and track your movements.

The whole thing is Orwellian.

And inhumane.

[Joli]

Unfortunately its a big ocean and a white deck looks like a white wave. Recently an R 33 sailed by some orma fellas flipped. The coasties had a devil of a time finding it even though the had a handheld and were speaking to them as they were searching for them. When they picked them up they mentioned they thought it would be a good idea to paint the bottom international orange.

Curious why the Contessa does not have and epirb?

[GreyRaven]

Yes, it is a big ocean. Yet, an object the size of a Swan 53 leaves a very big “footprint” on any digital image. Again, it is not a human evaluating the daily images. Computers do that. On the surface of the sea, every vessel is an anomaly. They stand out like sore thumbs.

I would have accepted your arguments 20 years ago. Today, no go.

You can be sure that some ****, based on the computer evaluations, has been following “Contessa 7” and her progress carefully over these past three weeks and has done nothing. It might endanger America’s “national security”, ya know?

I find this unacceptable.

Your question regarding the EPIRB is interesting, indeed.

[Steve Pope]

Maybe he doesn't know he is lost???

[GreyRaven]

Yes, then it is his ultimate Zen experience.

[emeraldsea]

I work and live on the b.c. coast, I heard the Canadian Coast Guard report, and they say he had NO modern navagation eqipment on board, so an epirb is unlikely. They expect his position to be off the Queen Charlotte Islands. This is the 3rd missing sail boat trying to reach the west coast in the last month, the first another single hander on a 21' sailboat, in my opinion, a suicide trip this time of year. I would not advise anyone to try sailing to the northwest (Washington-Alaska) from offshore between Oct.-March. Unless you like extream sailing are well prepared for very heavy weather.

[dana-tenacity]

Just maybe he is down below sewing up his torn mainsail and waiting for better weather to jury rig his steering and go home.
Who initiated the search and why?