S/V MARATONGA missing in Atlantic

[CarstenWL]

Force the authorities

Do not want 'to destroy' the thread but due to a discussion the topic stays highly visible.

My question would be: Whom do you want to force? Who are 'the authorities' if you get lost in the middle of the Atlantic? The authorities in the country where one holds his passport? Authorities of the flag state?

Carsten

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by CarstenWL

Do not want 'to destroy' the thread but due to a discussion the topic stays highly visible.

My question would be: Whom do you want to force? Who are 'the authorities' if you get lost in the middle of the Atlantic? The authorities in the country where one holds his passport? Authorities of the flag state?

Carsten

Based on the information been supplied so far where they were last heard of then it's well within the US coastguard areas for search and rescue.

But, family need to pressure local seach and rescue co ordinators, whoever that is to ensure pressure is fed up the line. I'm not quite sure how it works in the US, but over here in Australia then we would put pressure on the local pollies to pressure the responsible Federal Minister to ensure Border Farce are out there doing their bit to 'look'.

[Rustic Charm]

I think these are still the current SAR zones

[CarstenWL]

... ok thanks ...

And the US Search and Rescue Areas can be looked up here: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=gmdssArea

Carsten

[avb3]

Originally Posted by cloggieboots

First contact with SPOT Satellite GPS message was on July 13, the last one on the 26th.

They were together with s/v Andiamo a 43` Swan in Cobbs Marine. They both took off on Monday the 13th but Andiamo turned back after the first day because of a developing tropical system

I quote from the owner of Andiamo : " The Maratonga crew was cautious and interested to learn from us any information about the weather that we might have had access to."

Carla

If they were so cautious about the weather, one would think that at the very least they would have an EPRIB on board. Can you confirm that?

Can you advise why it was only on Sept. 15 that there appears to be the first SAR advise put out? That seems incongruous with the last SPOT reports.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by Exile

From the SPOT website:

Network / Satellite

More realistic coverage map here, still optimistic I believe. Mid ocean coverage would seem to be poor from reports and depends on the device being in optimum position and also relies on the human putting it in place each day if it is not permanently mounted.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by tchavei

Hi. I live in Portugal (South - Algarve). I'll inform the local coast Guard although they probably already know. Doesn't hurt anyway.

There are a lot of yachts rescued near azores all the time. If I remember correctly, last may, 6 yachts were rescued on the same day.

Not being a sailor, I wonder how come the alert is coming after almost two months? How long does it take to reach azores from the US anyway?

Probably stupid question but I have no clue about the usual time spans.

Regards
Tony

Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.

Well its taken me 40 days from Beaufort NC to Horta, Azores.. a variety of problems and having to hand steer from just Nth of Bermuda.. but I was solo..
They could be fine.. or... they could be dead.. only time will tell.
Its a big and lonely Ocean.. I wish them well..

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

More realistic coverage map here, still optimistic I believe. Mid ocean coverage would seem to be poor from reports and depends on the device being in optimum position and also relies on the human putting it in place each day if it is not permanently mounted.

And mine at least does like to consume batteries, especially if left on tracking mode and the recommended lithium's aren't used. I also noticed the device will sometimes turn itself off from tracking mode but otherwise stay turned on. This can easily go unnoticed.

Still . . . two months seems like an awfully long period of time to pass with no contact.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by Exile

Still . . . two months seems like an awfully long period of time to pass with no contact.

Yes agreed.

The crew were not really concerned about being in contact; hence no other devices that we know about.

I think this is the reason nobody panicked when nothing was heard for some time.

Chris

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by CarstenWL

Do not want 'to destroy' the thread but due to a discussion the topic stays highly visible.

My question would be: Whom do you want to force? Who are 'the authorities' if you get lost in the middle of the Atlantic? The authorities in the country where one holds his passport? Authorities of the flag state?

Carsten

They are all Argentine nationals I believe.

[tchavei]

Originally Posted by CarstenWL

Do not want 'to destroy' the thread but due to a discussion the topic stays highly visible.

My question would be: Whom do you want to force? Who are 'the authorities' if you get lost in the middle of the Atlantic? The authorities in the country where one holds his passport? Authorities of the flag state?

Carsten

I have no idea about nautical coverage but if it's like airspace, weird things can happen. The entire Atlantic Ocean is only monitored by two countries in terms of airspace. One is the US and the other is Portugal. It kinda shocked me when I learned that my izzy tiny country was in charge to monitor an area hundred times larger than it's territory not to mention ALL commercial flights doing crossovers.

I wouldn't be surprised if something equally weird would be in place regarding nautical traffic.

Originally Posted by boatman61

Well its taken me 40 days from Beaufort NC to Horta, Azores.. a variety of problems and having to hand steer from just Nth of Bermuda.. but I was solo..
They could be fine.. or... they could be dead.. only time will tell.
Its a big and lonely Ocean.. I wish them well..

Thx for the input. I'm not in the cruising world (yet) so I had no idea how things work time wise. My wife goes ballistic when I'm 15 min late. I'm pretty sure if I was late only one hour on a crossover, she would call the National Guard



Regards
Tony

Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.

[cloggieboots]

Originally Posted by avb3

If they were so cautious about the weather, one would think that at the very least they would have an EPRIB on board. Can you confirm that?

Can you advise why it was only on Sept. 15 that there appears to be the first SAR advise put out? That seems incongruous with the last SPOT reports.

I contacted my friend who in turn contacted the second owner who did not go on the trip. He says no EPIRB .

My friend who is not a sailor, has never been on a sailboat, she has been pestering the owner and family members of the other two crew men to exhaustion. She has been told just to be patient,... It was her who started to contact US Coast Guard, Cobbs Marine, MRCC and so on ....... and still puts pressure wherever and on whoever she can

[thomm225]

I saw that boat sitting at the end of Cobb's Floating Marina a while back.

I was thinking that boat was one hell of an offshore boat. (steel?) I think it was there for quite a few days, maybe longer. It may have had a light blue and white flag flying from the aft mast.

It appeared the boat had some miles on it, but it looked strong/salty. I was across the creek.

Was one of the crew or the Skipper older say 65-70? Did he favor "Wife Beater Tee Shirts?" If so, I saw him one morning coming out on my boat. He watched and waved. I was backing out having gotten pushed in that direction by the wind.

He didn't seem to be in any hurry ..............

[Exile]

After reading this thread I had made inquiry to the owners at Cobb's Marina and just received the following e-mail in response:

Hilferuf_ Yacht vermisst - Trans-Ocean e.V. - zum TO-Forum - Segeln - Seemannschaft

...hat sich erledigt, Boot und Skipper sind gefunden und sicher in Scarborough Harbour.

in german.. "boat and skipper found on east coast of England"

On its face it looks like miraculously good news, but that's all I know. I'll post if I find out anything more.

[cloggieboots]

Hi Exile,

Do you have any more info.... my friend just called there and no sign of MARATONGA nor skipper and crew

Thanks

Carla