Missing 75´s.y. Lady Domina

[la vida nueva]

Going live 1150 am radio at Noon, will likely mention this case. You can listen in by net, Un Dia Sin Fronteras » Immigration Reform, Dream Act, Human Rights, Hungry Children, just press the "on air" key. Will take a few minutes to cue up the station. Hey thanks everyone for your great efforts here!

[MarkJ]

This thread has flipped its noodle.



Theres a crackpot running around this forum beating this up. It is NOT a media story! Its a government search and rescue event for the governments of the people on board and the countries that do the SAR of the area.

[hellosailor]

"As has been noted the northern route may have been taken and if low on fuel may well take them nearly all summer. "
Really now, not enough fuel tankage, not enough sails, and magically they would be carrying enough food and water for five souls for two or three months?? Even if they fished and stowed rainwater...who wants to run those numbers for food and water and see how likely that isn't?

Sinbad-
You may not be aware but the USCG are among the world's finest users of telephones. You can literally call any USCG station and the call can be transferred to any other station, worldwide, as appropriate. So if you call USCG San Juan and they say "It wasn't us, that would be..." they'll also say "Hold on please, we'll transfer the call." Unless Brazil has some horrid tarriffs on VOIP phone calls, it shouldn't cost you (or anyone, anywhere) more than 3 cents per minute to call a USCG station in PR and get hooked up to whichever station allegedly spoke to LD on the radio.

Whether any watchstanders LOGGED the call, or remember the call, is something else again. But at three cents a minute, any interested party should be able to confirm or refute the VHF report with the actual USCG PR base.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by la vida nueva

Very likely the Norther route, as explained by Astrid and others. Problem is, they will have to stop for fuel...but we have not heard from them. Is it possible, I don't know, to do that entire route without stopping (or being spotted?)

Yes, it is possible (I say it is likely) to sail from West Indies to Europe without being spotted.

No, there are no fuel docks along the way, and if they stopped (Azores, Scotland, etc.), they would likely have called someone and told about their 'delay'. Or they would not have called.

A hit and sink possible, but no debris is not regular (normally the light objects float - a buoy, a jacket, a liferaft) and someone spots them and has a look at them - there were very many boats in the same area at the time and soon afterwards.

The boat simply being elsewhere another possibility.

b.

[neilpride]

Some debris take months if not years to reach any shore, now if is hard to spot a boat in the deep ocean imagine how hard is to spot a lifebuoy or fender in the ocean.

[Viking66]

Any photos, videos, recordings of any of the crew.
Contact for Stian Abrahamsan's family

I am acting as a human being who feels for the sailors, for the families and for all people who suffer. Tim[/QUOTE]

On YouTube I have a short video (Frank Cromer ARC sailing) Stian in the white cap. I have some still pictures also all from the ARC 12 crossing.

[sinbad7]

hellosailor..

I think Brazil is in a far better economic state than most countries these days,and I assure you
the cost of a phone call to the US Coast Guard would not tip our balance sheet.

That having been said,of course we called them,BUT,they do´nt keep a record of weather inquiries,and searching "their tapes" they did not find the 5 May call.

However,on a final phone inquiry the USCG informed us they DID have a record of Lady Domina reporting their departure from San Juan 5 April but they stated this was ANOTHER Lady Domina with a DIFFERENT registration number??

This is a bit odd as no one knew or was able to give the USCG the registration number of the MISSING Lady Domina,so how could they say it was DIFFERENT? In all probability,it WAS the right (our) Lady Domina,having departed St. Martin 31 March for San Juan for a quick visit before proceeding WHERE on 5 April.

Blue Pelican,which reported overhearing the VHF call on 5 May,knew of Lady Domina,and had meet some of the crew on an earlier occasion,so we must believe their report. That means Lady Domina must have been sailing around in the Caribbean for a month before asking for a weather report when passing San Juan on their way to Norway.

Both the skipper as well as his girlfriend Katie had confided to friends that the trip would likely take ´a couple of months´,whilst reports from other crew members had stated approximately two weeks to the Azores. I only wish the USCG had a record of that 5 May weather inquiry to verify Blue Pelican´s statement.
Now,we can only wait........

Tore

[Viking66]

Originally Posted by neilpride

Some debris take months if not years to reach any shore, now if is hard to spot a boat in the deep ocean imagine how hard is to spot a lifebuoy or fender in the ocean.

We where looking on the way to the Azores and its very differcult to see anything in the ocean waves, the best you can see is about hundred meters, from a rolling boat deck. Actually its pretty clean out there!
The oddist thing we saw was between Flores (outer west island of the Azores) and Faial (Horta). It was a 'sofa' that floated by!

[Cormorant]

Just to keep us all on the same page, it was Blue Pelican, not Blue Dolphin.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1256153

[hellosailor]

Tore-
"However,on a final phone inquiry the USCG informed us they DID have a record of Lady Domina reporting their departure from San Juan 5 April but they stated this was ANOTHER Lady Domina with a DIFFERENT registration number??"
I see no mystery there, I am sure the USCG knows how to search many national registries and they may have simply found another vessel (i.e. a Spanish flagged one) with the same name. The US registry shows no such vessel with the name "Lady Domina" but often will show a half dozen boats with the same name.

I didn't say that making a phone call would break Brazil's budget, just that I have no idea how heavily Brazil taxes VOIP calls. In some countries, tariffs can double or triple the price of things. Which won't break the country's budget, just the individual ones. Offhand, auto parts and electronics to Peru may be taxed at 100% or higher, so a hundred dollar radio becomes $200, a $50 auto part becomes $100...these things can add up. In parts of eastern europe, there's a 100% tariff on importing cell phones, and if you do it without a permit, you lose the phone and face stiff penalties.
Brazil? VOIP tariffs? I'm only saying I have no idea, nor any real concern about it.

[sinbad7]

By coincidence the French sailing yacht Grain sol Mousette made the following report to the coastguard on the Azores,having arrived from the Caribbean:

Grain sol Mousette- 05/19/2013 00:00:00 UTC 3587.56 NMi 004 Deg. T 36 10 00.0 N 040 10 59.9 W Start 6.00 150 Deg. T
1 Observed blinking light - 3.7 nm 36 06 42.527 N 040 08 40.760 W 3.79 NMi 150 Deg. T 36 06 42.5 N 040 08 40.7 W 00 H 37 M 6.00 Horizon distance based on eye height 10 feet=3.7 nm

If Lady Domina DID depart from San Juan on 5 May,at an average speed of 4.5 kn,she would have covered the 1730 nm in about 17 days and could have arrived at the observation point on or about the 20 May. A BIG guess,but she COULD have.

She had provisions and water for at least two months,but FUEL is the BIG question ujnless she refuelled quietly in the Azores.

Tore

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sinbad7

By coincidence the French sailing yacht Grain sol Mousette made the following report to the coastguard on the Azores,having arrived from the Caribbean:

Grain sol Mousette- 05/19/2013 00:00:00 UTC 3587.56 NMi 004 Deg. T 36 10 00.0 N 040 10 59.9 W Start 6.00 150 Deg. T
1 Observed blinking light - 3.7 nm 36 06 42.527 N 040 08 40.760 W 3.79 NMi 150 Deg. T 36 06 42.5 N 040 08 40.7 W 00 H 37 M 6.00 Horizon distance based on eye height 10 feet=3.7 nm

If Lady Domina DID depart from San Juan on 5 May,at an average speed of 4.5 kn,she would have covered the 1730 nm in about 17 days and could have arrived at the observation point on or about the 20 May. A BIG guess,but she COULD have.

She had provisions and water for at least two months,but FUEL is the BIG question ujnless she refuelled quietly in the Azores.

Tore

Actually I think you'll find you have to cover a bit more than 1730NM from SMX to Flores or Horta... especially at 4.5Kts...
You can't 're-fuel quietly' in the Azores..

[Boatguy30]

Especially fuel for a 75 footer! I can see perhaps stopping on an island with an auto petrol station and slipping ashore with a few Jerry cans but the amount of fuel they would need. Surely they would be burning something like 50-100 gallons per 24 hrs.

[hellosailor]

" slipping ashore with a few Jerry cans but "
Wasn't that part of a question on a standardized math test?
"A crew of five, with ten five gallon jerry cans and one rowboat...How many hours will it take them to refuel their boat?"

[sinbad7]

boatman61..

Read my posting again... I was not talking about the Azores,but the point where Grain Sol Mousette observed the lights at 36 06 42.527 N 040 08 40.760 W.

But refuelling 2000 gls of diesel somewhere on the way is the BIG question.

Tore