Sailing around the World

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Wed 16 Mar 2011 15:31
WEDNESDAY  16th  MARCH  2011
 
A good night at sea, a steady NE breeze of 20 nkots on our starboard side,
Better still, Aileen and Suzanna did the watches from 00.00hrs to 06.00hrs betwwen them , so skipper had a reasonable nights sleep,,
 
06.00hrs, Distance travelled ...................................983 miles, ( 193 in the last 24hrs )
              Distance to destination...........................1,126 miles
 
08.00hrs  Skipper and Suzanna hoisted the KITE, ( Parasail ) this increased our speed by 1.5 knots, but we are still shy
of our rum line, sailing a course of 281 degrees , we need to sail 299 degrees, soooo , we will hope the wind will go more easterly later,
 
08.30hrs,  While waiting for our daily net controller, a MAYDAY call was recieved , actually relayed by " Eowyn " stating
that one of our fleet " Basia" had been in a collision with a ship. This happened around 05.00 hrs or a little earlier,
Basia lost her mast and rig, and was very badly damages including a hole in one of her hulls.  ( Basai being a catamaran from Canada )
She is taking water and many of the boats close by went to her assistance,
Graham from " Eowyn" acted as coordinator and did a great job,
There are a number of problems here,   ie, the ship did a runner,
                                                          Getting to a port close enough , with a limited amount of fuel,
                                                          Informing the insurance company,
It seems that it may not be too difficult to track down the ship, Insurance companies are good at tracking these ships,
also one ship did respond to the Mayday, which Basia sent out on a hand held radio, now , this instrument has a very limited range,
like 3 miles or so,  Therefore it is possible that this was the ship involved in the collision. just a possability.
 
They have decided to head to french Guiana for emergance repairs, and many of the fleet have given their spare fuel cans to " Basia"
to help her r5each her destination,
 
By midday, we had 23 knots of wind and were sailing merrily along at 9.7 knots.
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed ;-  Stephen Hyde,  ( Skipper )