Safiya supports 575 Callioipe with major rig failure!
Safiya
Harvey & Sue Death
Fri 27 Apr 2018 23:23
winds and a confused bumpy sea with our new crew settling into a routine
when at 6am we picked up a radio request for urgent help from Calliope a
fellow OWR participant , we immediately adjusted our route to sail towards
her and subsequently issued an update email to the Rally Coordinator as
below
"during last night Calliope lost part of her rig as 4 spreader diagonals
failed at approx. 2400 hours. Charles and team have made temporary repairs
and are currently heading into New Caledonia , as closest land fall. They
will be escorted by Safiya and then handed over to Unconditional later today
who was visiting NC in their plans. The NZ coast Guard has been informed
under Pan Pan advisory.All are safe and well and the rig was renewed in
Auckland just weeks ago! Weather a bit uncomfortable and worse than
forecasted. Calliope has email coms, SSB and VHF but very limited AIS due
to damage .Charles and team have completed amazing repairs in 2.5m seas and
30kts of wind up the rig to prevent total rig loss!"
After providing escort support to Calliope we handed the role over to
Unconditional to escort them into New Caledonia as they were already on a
planned route to visit New Caledonia. We then returned to our passage and
headed north with great sailing winds and 300 miles to go, it was a shame we
lost 18 hours helping Calliope as we were lined up to overtake most of the
fleet after leaving a day later! Oh well as Sue keeps saying it's not a
race!
Photo shows Calliope trying additional repairs in day light in calmer seas!
Harvey
