Search resumes for missing British sailors

[webfact]

Missing yacht: US Coast Guard resumes search

LONDON: -- The search for four British sailors missing in the Atlantic has resumed after it was called off on Sunday.

Ministers said the US Coast Guard had agreed to continue searching after a request from the UK government.

The 40ft Cheeki Rafiki was sailing back to the UK from a regatta in Antigua when it got into difficulties.

The wife of one of the men said it had been an "emotional rollercoaster" since all contact with the crew was lost on Friday.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27492026


-- BBC 2014-05-21

[neverdie]

I hoper these guys are located soon, fit and well. Having spent a short time I a life raft once I for one wouldn't want to do it for an extended period of time. Definately not a good predicament to be in.

[NeverSure]

I wish them well but quitting so soon pisses me off. So what else do those Coast Guard guys have to do besides search for a missing vessel with people possibly in a very good life raft? Go back to base and play cards? Why in the world would they have to be begged for two days to get back off their butts, losing 2 critical days?

We spend almost 1/2 the world's total budget on military, but can't be bothered to go all out with whatever we have when we know there are people lost just 700 miles off shore, and we know about where they were in distress?

BTW I'm an American for those who don't know. I didn't know I was paying taxes for the Coast Guard and even the Navy to sit on their butts.

[neverdie]

I wish them well but quitting so soon pisses me off. So what else do those Coast Guard guys have to do besides search for a missing vessel with people possibly in a very good life raft? Go back to base and play cards? Why in the world would they have to be begged for two days to get back off their butts, losing 2 critical days?

We spend almost 1/2 the world's total budget on military, but can't be bothered to go all out with whatever we have when we know there are people lost just 700 miles off shore, and we know about where they were in distress?

BTW I'm an American for those who don't know. I didn't know I was paying taxes for the Coast Guard and even the Navy to sit on their butts.

When we had our mishap I initially communicated with others from the life raft using our trusty sat phone, I was cold, wet, tired, confused and injured but by both relaying and receiving information not long after being adrift from our vessel I felt somewhat relieve to a certain extent. Of course by just having an epirb, you can almost be certain the message has got out but after a while a little doubt can creep in.

The ocean is a huge unforgiving space if nothing in many ways and I'm not sure I'd want to be bobbing around In the middle if nowhere, off shipping lanes for too long. Then there's a whole other lot of complications that arise when one is bobbing around In the dark inside the shipping lanes.

I DEFINATELY wouldn't like to challenge that 133days at sea in a life raft......horrific.

It must be terribly difficult for their families.

Edited May 21, 2014 by neverdie

[earthpig]

I know where the crew, or some of them, likely are.

I also know this model yacht, having sailed it extensively. It is not designed for transatlantic voyage as its hull is lightweight and the keel is not attached to the hull in a way appropriate for the heavy pounding routinely offered in the open ocean. This in not a fault of the designers. Rather the boat is designed as a racer cruiser, and has been extremely successful in regattas for years. It is so in part because it is relatively light in weight, and as a result it lacks the sturdiness of design and build which a prudent offshore sailor would wish to have under his feet on a transatlantic voyage.

So where is the crew? Look at the photo in the referenced BBC article of the upturned hull. Note something missing?

When a keel drops off on a boat like that, the boat will turn turtle in seconds. Conditions would have been too rough to sleep in the fore cabin. Anyone in the aft cabins would likely not have had time to escape before drowning.

Many life rafts release and inflate automatically when submerged; some on boats of this size do not. And if not, the submerged life raft would not have been accessible by the cockpit crew in conditions such as were reported.

The action taken by the US Coast Guard to cease searching after more than double the time that life could survive in the water suggests that the Coast Guard checked with knowledgable parties about what type of life raft was on board, and concluded that is was not of the sort that auto released on submersion. Assuming that the Coast Guard did indeed make this check and that the information provided was accurate, it would, sadly, be pointless to continue the search.

RIP, and may lessons be learned.

[Credo]

Well, I was reading in another thread where people were pretty adamant that the US should just mind it's own business and should stay out of other country's affairs. So, if the US searched it's coastal waters for the missing sailors, then they have no business going beyond that.

....At least that seems to be the prevailing attitude.

Otherwise, I agree with Neversure.

[Basil B]

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I wish them well but quitting so soon pisses me off. So what else do those Coast Guard guys have to do besides search for a missing vessel with people possibly in a very good life raft? Go back to base and play cards? Why in the world would they have to be begged for two days to get back off their butts, losing 2 critical days?

We spend almost 1/2 the world's total budget on military, but can't be bothered to go all out with whatever we have when we know there are people lost just 700 miles off shore, and we know about where they were in distress?

BTW I'm an American for those who don't know. I didn't know I was paying taxes for the Coast Guard and even the Navy to sit on their butts.

As I understand the the weather and visibility was a major factor in closing down the search on Sunday, unless they got into a life raft the is virtually no chance of them being alive, if they did get in a life raft would it not have a EPIRB locator beacon, if one had been activated they would have been found by now.

I feel embraced being British asking the Americans to spend thousands if not millions of dollars on what is probably a fruitless search, I do hope they finf them alive and well but I am realistic that the chances are very slim, I assume these people did not have insurance that would contribute to the cost of the search.

I know where the crew, or some of them, likely are.

I also know this model yacht, having sailed it extensively. It is not designed for transatlantic voyage as its hull is lightweight and the keel is not attached to the hull in a way appropriate for the heavy pounding routinely offered in the open ocean. This in not a fault of the designers. Rather the boat is designed as a racer cruiser, and has been extremely successful in regattas for years. It is so in part because it is relatively light in weight, and as a result it lacks the sturdiness of design and build which a prudent offshore sailor would wish to have under his feet on a transatlantic voyage.

So where is the crew? Look at the photo in the referenced BBC article of the upturned hull. Note something missing?

When a keel drops off on a boat like that, the boat will turn turtle in seconds. Conditions would have been too rough to sleep in the fore cabin. Anyone in the aft cabins would likely not have had time to escape before drowning.

Many life rafts release and inflate automatically when submerged; some on boats of this size do not. And if not, the submerged life raft would not have been accessible by the cockpit crew in conditions such as were reported.

The action taken by the US Coast Guard to cease searching after more than double the time that life could survive in the water suggests that the Coast Guard checked with knowledgable parties about what type of life raft was on board, and concluded that is was not of the sort that auto released on submersion. Assuming that the Coast Guard did indeed make this check and that the information provided was accurate, it would, sadly, be pointless to continue the search.

RIP, and may lessons be learned.

Totally agree, except that there was a distress call before the yacht sank so I would have thought all the crew would have been up and in survival suits.

[dighambara]

I wish them well but quitting so soon pisses me off. So what else do those Coast Guard guys have to do besides search for a missing vessel with people possibly in a very good life raft? Go back to base and play cards? Why in the world would they have to be begged for two days to get back off their butts, losing 2 critical days?

We spend almost 1/2 the world's total budget on military, but can't be bothered to go all out with whatever we have when we know there are people lost just 700 miles off shore, and we know about where they were in distress?

BTW I'm an American for those who don't know. I didn't know I was paying taxes for the Coast Guard and even the Navy to sit on their butts.

You quite obviously have no understanding of what the US Military actually does.

I was in the USAF and US Army, including the Reserves and National Guard, for over 32 years and I have no memory of ever having the time (while on duty) to play cards. Often, the duty day was 24 hours - no personal time. However, for those times I was off duty, I did many other things, including play cards.