S/V MARATONGA missing in Atlantic

[cloggieboots]

Steady Hand,

Thanks for the kind and wise words. we will keep hope alive

Carla

[N2H2O]

It occurred in early and mid August. It was a male, but could not tell if it was the voice of the Skipper (you know it is really hard on ssb). I believe it was not the ship for they would have put Paul on the Radio, he spoke the best English. During July after my call- (knowing I was too close for the 20meters band), on two occasions I found relays who were willing to call - no contact either. It is possible they are just not there yet, but I too have a growing concern and thus search the boats name and found this thread. If you want the real source of information, it is in the hands of the Spanish speaking net on 14.155 at 2200.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, N2H2O.

[cloggieboots]

Originally Posted by N2H2O

It occurred in early and mid August. It was a male, but could not tell if it was the voice of the Skipper (you know it is really hard on ssb). I believe it was not the ship for they would have put Paul on the Radio, he spoke the best English. During July after my call- (knowing I was too close for the 20meters band), on two occasions I found relays who were willing to call - no contact either. It is possible they are just not there yet, but I too have a growing concern and thus search the boats name and found this thread. If you want the real source of information, it is in the hands of the Spanish speaking net on 14.155 at 2200.

Hi N2H2O,

Just a question ....... Why would they have put Paul on the SSB for speaking English if the calls were made on a Spanish speaking net ..... I am a bit confused

Carla

[N2H2O]

Carla,
I was calling from my radio station here at home. I'm a ham radio operator as well as the Skipper (LU6VCR his call sign), so I am able to put calls out to vessel since the Skipper shared a freq within our (USA) bands. Paul speaks and understands English the best among the three aboard. If the Captain could hear my calling to him using his call, vessel name (Maratonga), followed by my name, call sign and my vessel name, he would likely have Paul on the radio to reply in English as he often did at the docks to communicate. Since the reply only continued only in Spanish, I am guessing it was someone (likely S. American) asking me for info or to move off the freq because it may have been in use down there and I could not hear the other side of their conversation.
Thank you for the welcoming my new friend. T

[cloggieboots]

Hi N2H2O,

Thanks for your info,now I understand and now we have more to work with ..... We are trying to find somebody to contact the spanish net and find any info on Maratonga. Even old info is usefull for now SAR Madrid is calling to try and get SAR Boston to start looking on their side of the ocean We keep contacting several sources, we also contacted TOMNOD to try and help with crowd-scourcing

If there is anything you remember , please let us now

Thanks

Carla

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by N2H2O

Carla,
I was calling from my radio station here at home. I'm a ham radio operator as well as the Skipper (LU6VCR his call sign), so I am able to put calls out to vessel since the Skipper shared a freq within our (USA) bands.

By the way, LU6VCR could be a valid Argentine amateur (not maritime, which would start with LW) call sign but it is not assigned to anyone at this time. See official listing here. Furthermore, none of the three crew reported to be onboard (Raul Oscar Enriquez, Pablo Sebastián Enriquez and Raúl Echevarría) holds an Argentine amateur license.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by cloggieboots

Hi N2H2O,

Thanks for your info,now I understand and now we have more to work with ..... We are trying to find somebody to contact the spanish net and find any info on Maratonga. Even old info is usefull for now SAR Madrid is calling to try and get SAR Boston to start looking on their side of the ocean We keep contacting several sources, we also contacted TOMNOD to try and help with crowd-scourcing

If there is anything you remember , please let us now

Thanks

Carla

Long story short, I am afraid you are wasting your time with Tomnod.

Most importantly, SAR responsibility for East part of the North Atlantic rests with UK and France, not Spain. I would suggest that someone check that the GMDSS broadcasts (which cover different regions than the SAR regions) that cover all possible positions include the relevant text. This is critical to ensure that watchkeepers on merchant ships have the info.

Now that the objective is to send the message to the people keeping watch in the bridge of merchant vessels in the relevant area, the GMDSS brodcasts are is FAR more important than sending messages through ham nets. I am a ham but understand the limitations.

If you are a friend of the Enriquez or Echevarria families you may want to suggest that instead of working through Cancilleria (ministry of foreign affairs) they should consider working through the Buenos Aires Maritime Rescue Coordination Center ( +54 1143 172 300 rcc_buenosaires@ara.mil.ar ), which is the proper channel in Argentina. I would not bet my life on these guys if I had a chance but hey, we are where we are and they are a better bet than Cancilleria, which is not the right channel anyway.

If these guys were my family I would also push through the flag country of the boat. The number seems the same as the number that boat had when it worked as a backpacker ferry between Colombia and Panama.....Do you know if that Costa Rica registration #GPC8509 is current or belongs to the previous owner?

[zeglarz]

Originally Posted by N2H2O

*No GOOD English speaking person aboard - :.......*they ate dinner at 10pm slept until 9am, wore the same clothes, showered with garden hose and spent a lot of time reading. * We cooked steaks on our grill one lunch; for they shared they missed “bbq” beef they would often eat in Argentina. *Commutation was hard, I do not speak Spanish, and our ideas were very different and many suggestions quickly to tension. *Once offered the idea of dry ice for their icebox which only was only cooled with running the engine. *After finding the translation of dry ice, they explained they don’t need American dry ice; they enjoy a simpler way of living.

Oh really....??? They did not speak English ? They should be not allowed to come to USA..... They ate at 10 pm? OMG , they should be kicked out of the marina.... *My dear friend maybe is time to leave the marina and go sailing... Not a weekend sailing.... Just go.... And enjoy the anchorages, and places, showers from garden hose.... The same clothes for days.... *Or being naked. Try this, seat in your cocpit naked and read a book. *I promise you, you will survive without ice, I did it :-) For many years:-) Once again.... Take your clothes off and try the fun with garden hose.... :-) Cold shower......

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by N2H2O

There was a radio schedule THEY made on 14.155usb with South America Maritime net 2200 utc. I was invited to call them before the net, 2100. I call every once in a while- they never answer. I have heard the name Maratonga spoken two or three times but I am unable to converse with the Spanish-speaking operator.

I tried to follow up on this by asking the controller of this net on this but none of the Spanish-speaking hams I know are familiar with it . Unfortunately I do not have 20m equipment to check by myself.

Isn´t there a confusion with the Rueda de los Navegantes net at 14.358 to 14.362 MHz USB @2200 or 23000Z, which was hosted by Rafael in Gran Canaria?

[cloggieboots]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

I tried to follow up on this by asking the controller of this net on this but none of the Spanish-speaking hams I know are familiar with it . Unfortunately I do not have 20m equipment to check by myself.

Isn´t there a confusion with the Rueda de los Navegantes net at 14.358 to 14.362 MHz USB @2200 or 23000Z, which was hosted by Rafael in Gran Canaria?

Hi SVLAMOROCHA,

Thanks for thinking about that. My friend has been in touch with Rafael (Rueda de los Navegantes) and he is indeed aware and active on the search.....

Having been surfing the web I've also seen on a recent (the last) video of the crew on Maratonga, that, indeed there is an EPIRB on boars and also the have a liferaft .....

We keep on searching and we keep hope high

Thanks,

Carla

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by cloggieboots

Hi SVLAMOROCHA,

Thanks for thinking about that. My friend has been in touch with Rafael (Rueda de los Navegantes) and he is indeed aware and active on the search.....

Having been surfing the web I've also seen on a recent (the last) video of the crew on Maratonga, that, indeed there is an EPIRB on boars and also the have a liferaft .....

We keep on searching and we keep hope high

Thanks,

Carla

Carla

Two questions:

1) Have you been able to find out if the frequency in whcich they were heard was 14155 (mentioned by N2H2O, but not known to be as a standard frequency for a Spanish language net) or 14358-14360 (which is the frequency for the Rueda de Los Navegantes net hosted by Rafael in Gran Canaria)?

2) If there was indeed an EPIRB, is there a way to get the hex (serial) number of the EPIRB that could be used to query the US authorities to see if there was ever a self test message from that EPIRB? If there is an owner that stayed ashore, he/she should have a way to get copy of the EPRIB registration from his/her files....

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by cloggieboots

Rafael (Rueda de los Navegantes) and he is indeed aware and active on the search.....

Rafa IS the man if there was any Spanish speaking comms. He is online everynight of the passages season and his hardware can reach all the way to the Indies when propagation is right.

Good luck.

b.

[cloggieboots]

Lamorocha,

I've sent the same questions about the EPIRB to the family ....... who might get the info of the second owner of Maratonga

The question about the 14.155 frequency and the name Maratonga heard has been forwarded to several radio aficionados in Argentinia, so far no answer

[cloggieboots]

Hi All,

Just an update that there is no news yet. Nothing about the crew and nothing about Maratonga nor any flotsam anywhere.

A nice bit of news is that the family of the famous Tunante II is helping the family of Maratonga in their search.

We finally, after a long long time, received the coordinates of Maratonga from SPOT message GPS and plotted them. Then after a lot of websurfing, emailing and calling we found out that the oil tanker British Tenacity has crossed their path on the day of disappearing. Between 14.00 and 19.00 GMT on July 26.

Several emails have gone to BP who owns the vessel but so far nothing in return.

Furthermore, no Epirb on board, yes to a liferaft and nothing on the SSB/HAM side.

Does any of you have any knowledge about cell phones and pinging?........

We still keep going and hope is still strong