Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - February 2022

— Continued from previous page
“I called her on the sat phone. When she answered, I said, ‘This is a Mayday. No,
I’m not kidding. You need to call the rally shore support number I gave you. Tell
them we’ve lost our headstay.’ But all she could make out was a garbled ‘Mayday.’
So my dear sister, who lives in San Diego, calls her local Coast Guard, who calls the
Coast Guard in Florida, who hands the call off to the station in Puerto Rico.
“Less than hour later, I get a call by one of the Coasties in Puerto Rico, but his accent
is so thick I can’t understand a word he’s telling me. I’m sitting there, looking at a wall
of radios and instruments. A few of them have red SOS buttons. So I begin pushing them.
am, a 50ish-year-old retired doctor looking for a little excitement. This is my first
voyage on a boat, any boat. Martin, also retired, and I have been traveling North
America in a motorhome, so many of the systems are the same — batteries, solar,
septic, water pumps, 12-volt refrigeration, propane stoves, living in confined spaces.
But this was perhaps a little more than we expected.
“At 5:00am, Day 10, I came on deck for my watch. The sun was just rising and it
was relatively calm. All three boats were drifting, all within sight of each other. A lazy
swell was rolling but very little wind so I radioed the other boats that I was going to
take a peek at the prop. I took my mask, held onto a line and slipped over the side.
Above: Headsail draped through cockpit. During a squall, that center area filled
with rainwater and two of the crew used it for a bath!
Right: Halyards were tied off at the bow to replace the forestay.
Below: The Leopard circled us with videos running to document and determine
what the problems were.
“Within minutes, I get another call from the Coast Guard. They have relayed a
message to the rally shore support team. Soon after, I have a flurry of emails from
their emergency response team. Thank God! One message saying they have found a
boat nearby, a Leopard 48, also in our rally. They will divert to assist. They should
be here before morning.”
That night the Leopard 48 repeatedly attempted to contact Odyssey on VHF, but
was too far away. But another boat, Lappwing, heard the calls and responded.
Lappwing had left Cape Henry on November 1st. Lappwing called Odyssey on VHF
and said they could be there in a matter of a few hours.
“Lappwing found us before dark, drifting, no headstay, no jib, a fouled prop, and
no engine to charge batteries, low on fuel and water. We’d already turned off all
electronics and refrigeration.”
The two boats chatted on VHF. It was still
blowing 20 to 25 knots, and the seas were big so
nothing could be done that night. Without
headsails, Odyssey was unable to heave-to, so
spent the night drifting under bare poles.
Lappwing’s skipper elected not to heave-to in
order to try to match Odyssey’s drift rate:
Odyssey had no AIS and he was worried about
losing sight of them in the night.
Karen picks up the story. “For the next two
days, we had regular Iridium emails from the rally
emergency support team and advice from the
professional skipper on the Leopard 48. He
advised us on everything from battery charging,
chafe management and relieving jammed
transmissions to making sure we all got enough
rest, food and water so we avoid making mistakes
and bad decisions. They were experienced, calm,
and knowledgeable and kept us safe and sane
until we were safely underway again.
“Next morning the Leopard 48 arrives and
motors to meet us and Lappwing. Conditions are
still rough, winds in the 18- to 20-knot range, so
sending someone over the side to free the prop is
out of the question. The rally people and Chris
Parker at the Marine Weather Center advised we
sail east toward more settled conditions, so all
three boats hoist a reefed main and off we went in
search of calmer conditions.
“With periodic VHF chats, we headed east. That
night, with no compass light, no nav instruments
and just the anchor light at our masthead, we
hand steered with two-hour watches, following
the Leopard 48’s stern light in the darkness.
“What is really cool, is this is our first sailing
experience,” she added with a chuckle. “Here I
I wanted a bath anyway. As I looked under the stern of the boat, the water crystal
clear, I could see both jib sheets were wrapped around the prop. With the boat
rolling, I did not feel safe diving below to unwrap the lines. The new guy’s a young
buck, I’ll let him do that.”
The new crewmember dove under the boat and within a few minutes had the
sheets unwound and cut free. With the prop now free, the crew could move the shaft,
free it from the transmission, shift into neutral, and start the engine.
Fuel transfer
“While we were busy with clearing the prop, the Leopard 48 deployed their dinghy,
motored over to Lappwing, picked up two jerry cans of fuel, and returned back to their
boat. The skipper asked us to drift a long line downwind to him, tied to a seat cushion.
He picked it up, tied it to his dinghy, then tied one of his lines to the dinghy,…
—Continued on next page
FEBRUARY 2022 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 19