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The Search for Arnolf —<br />
Lost and Found<br />
by John Burnie<br />
Participants in the 2007 <strong>ARC</strong> are reminded that a number of vessels were abandoned<br />
during the Atlantic crossing last year. What is slightly surprising is that most<br />
of the abandoned vessels still made the crossing successfully — even though they<br />
had no crew on board.<br />
I became involved in one particular abandoned vessel’s plight, solely due to the fact<br />
that the underwriting agent of the abandoned yacht happened to be the same company<br />
that carries the cover on the sailing yacht that I share with my partner, Ann Louise.<br />
The Bavaria 35 Arnolf, participating in the <strong>ARC</strong> 2006, lost its rudder on or about<br />
10th December 2006 at a position approximately 19.42°N, 34.36°W. The owner<br />
believes he struck an underwater object. Having unsuccessfully tried to control the<br />
yacht without a rudder, the owner and the crew decided to abandon the vessel. They<br />
were rescued by another yacht participating in the event on the 11th December 2006.<br />
The Arnolf was next seen soundly afloat by a ship on the 14th February 2007 and<br />
its position was reported at 18.25°N, 56.15°W, some 350 to 400 miles northeast of<br />
Guadeloupe. The vessel had in 64 days all but completed the remainder of the crossing<br />
without any sails or crew.<br />
On the 19th February, I was in Antigua and, during a chance conversation with our<br />
insurance underwriters, they mentioned to me the case of the abandoned Arnolf. They<br />
asked me if I knew anyone who would be in a position to help them locate the drifting<br />
vessel. I naturally offered. I happened to know a very good Antiguan aviation company,<br />
Norman Aviation, and I suggested we could make a targeted air search out of<br />
Antigua. The insurance company were enthusiastic and so we put our minds as to<br />
where the vessel might turn up, bearing in mind the range of a limited aircraft search.<br />
My partner, Ann Louise, gets ready to fly as the starboard-hand spotter<br />
One of the great navigators on this planet is my friend Hugh Agnew (twice winner<br />
of the Sydney-Hobart Race on Aera), so I rang Hugh in the UK. I asked him to look<br />
at the facts we had and asked him to come up with some predictions as to where we<br />
should look for the drifting vessel. Hugh calculated from the information that we had<br />
this abbreviated plan:<br />
Air search planning by HJA in London<br />
• Feb 14 position (12Z) 18.25°N, 56.15°W<br />
• Dec 11 position 19.42°N, 34.46°W<br />
• Historic drift rate 1,221 nautical miles in 64 days at 102° magnetic<br />
19.1 nautical miles per day<br />
• Projected position based on historic rate 18°15N, 58°55W<br />
• Projected position based on guess rate 17°23N, 59°24W<br />
24 nautical miles per day<br />
085° magnetic drift<br />
• Centre of search area 150 miles from Antigua<br />
• 5 hours search at 200 knots, so available search time 3.5 hours<br />
Assume 1 nautical mile either side so 2 nautical mile swath<br />
So 1,400 square nautical mile search area, 28 nautical miles x 50 nautical miles<br />
Hugh drew the schematic plan below (not to scale) of where we should search for<br />
the vessel bearing in mind the limits of the aircraft range ability (200 knots for 3.5<br />
hours in the search area).<br />
Hugh had to calculate all this from only two known positions of the yacht, one on<br />
11th December 2006 and one on 14th February 2007 — with more than 1,200 miles<br />
and 64 days between! He created a grid in which we should look, with an estimated<br />
position of where the vessel might be. We decided we would start from a predicted<br />
position P and then enter the square at the bottom corner near S4 and fly grids,<br />
searching on either side of the aircraft with binoculars.<br />
Caption<br />
—Continued on next page<br />
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JANUARY 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 19
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