Checking on progress on Mark Beaumont’s website (he’s almost at the end of his Cairo to Cape ride and must be enjoying nice weather and a following wind in SA) I came across this account of a capsize while rowing the Atlantic:

http://markbeaumontonline.com/atlantic-odyssey-i-didnt-see-it-coming-i-didnt-hear-it-coming/

Chuffing nora!

eek!

The thing I admire most about anyone who goes to sea is this:

If a mayday call is made, anyone who hears it drops what they are doing & hauls ass in the appropriate direction to assist.

We need more of that.

Amazing. It must feel so scary to be n such a situation.

Having sailed across the Atlantic (albeit in a 40ft boat) I can understand the whole “didn’t see it coming”. Once you get into the trade winds it all comes a bit…well, predictable. The night shift (3 hours on/off) does occasionally lull you into a false sense of security. I think a combination of the constant rocking motion with the sound of the sea/rigging puts you at ease, almost rocking you into lethargy. On the odd occasion a big (not talking freak) wave would hit you off the stern and totally throw you off course it’s a real eye opener as to where you are. How people cope with that in a rowing boat must be terrifying at night. Fwiw we did the crossing in 9 days and didn’t see another boat till we arrived in Antigua.

Huge respect for anyone who sails the Atlantic in small boats. Despite having no sailing experience I’ve become a bit of an addict o sea survival stories. Some of them are almost beyond belief.

Seventy six days alone in a life raft.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adrift-Seventy-Six-Days-Lost-Sea/dp/0345410157/ref=pd_cp_b_3

As for Atlantic rowing – I once got a lift into Knoydart on a boat belonging to the first guy to row it solo in 1969. Tom McLean, Nice guy.

Wow what a lucky escape, great read thanks for posting it up.

Is Beaumont going to break the record he is currently after?

If a mayday call is made, anyone who hears it drops what they are doing & hauls ass in the appropriate direction to assist.

I did a bit of work many years ago for a shipping company that had suffered a total loss.

Their ship got into difficulties somewhere in the north sea and a nearby commercial vessel made its way to assist. Unfortunately, the darkness along with poor weather and captain error meant that the much larger “rescue” ship crashed straight into the ship that was in trouble, ploughing right through it. The rescue ship then tried to get back to the damaged ship by performing a standard figure of 8 manoeuvre…unfortunately the figure of 8 was so accurate that they ploughed right through the ship a second time, sinking it.

🙂

Despite having no sailing experience I’ve become a bit of an addict o sea survival stories. Some of them are almost beyond belief.

+1

This is about a close family friend. Survival Against the Odds

He also went back to school in his 70s since he’d been deprived of the opportunity as a kid. Wonder how many of the kids in his class knew how many interesting tales he had to tell.

How about 117 days adrift.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/117-Days-Adrift-World-cruising/dp/0713659300

Good read. Sadly lent it to some wretch who never returned it.

He must be having a hard time. He’s looking bloody rough. He looked much better when he was downhilling.

Eat_more_cheese – 9 days in a 40 footer? That’s going some. I take it that was in a racing multihull rather than a cruiser? I did it in 14 in a Whitbread 60, but we had mostly light winds and no main for 2 days after we ripped it.

Their ship got into difficulties somewhere in the north sea and a nearby commercial vessel made its way to assist. Unfortunately, the darkness along with poor weather and captain error meant that the much larger “rescue” ship crashed straight into the ship that was in trouble, ploughing right through it. The rescue ship then tried to get back to the damaged ship by performing a standard figure of 8 manoeuvre…unfortunately the figure of 8 was so accurate that they ploughed right through the ship a second time, sinking it.

Have you ever read about the Battle of May Island

Was flying along the other day, chatting to my First Officer about sailing in the Atlantic (I sailed UK to Canaries) and she told me her story of rowing the Atlantic…

She did something like 51 days before the rudder broke. A week later they were rescued at night by a ship that ran them down in the process. One of the crew was knocked overboard and this girl was swimming at the end of a long line and just couldn’t reach her mate..

Thankfully somehow they got a line to the overboard crew.

Then the freighter didn’t have lines long enough to haul them aboard due to it being empty and high out of the water. So they got a cargo net over the side. The rowing crew couldn’t b up as they were too knackered so all bar the bridge crew of this freighter hauled the four rowers up the side on this net!!

My jaw hit the floor. She said she’d do it all again!! Made my loss of steerage in the bay of Biscay look like a kindergarten event!!!

Sgn23-the 9 days was from Las Palmas to Antigua. Add another 3 to get from Gib to LP. It was a Hylas 46 so fairly racy design but still a heavy old cruiser at heart. We were fortunate to hit some constant trade winds until day 5/6 where our average speed dropped considerably. Not without problems though-we lost the battery inverter and found a corroded manifold on the engine. The battery issue meant we couldn’t put any charge in the batteries so were without auto helm for half the crossing-it was proper old school navigation. The engine issue meant we didn’t attempt to try and run it till we got within sight of the harbour/ancourage. Luckily our duct tape/jubilee clip fix held!

<shudder> reminds me of my ‘sojourn’ in the Southern Ocean with Infamous Bill Tilmanesque glaciologist Alun Hubard (him of Planet Earth calving Icebergs BBC fame)and his good skip Gambo…..

Despite having no sailing experience I’ve become a bit of an addict o sea survival stories. Some of them are almost beyond belief.

117 days adrift is good
Also look at (I’ve read all of these and they sit on the bookshelf);
Left for Dead (’79 Fastnet)
Saved (Tony Bullimore)
Survive the Savage Sea
Fatal Storm (Sydney Hobart)

Tell us more @mugsys

I’ve read 117 days adrift, Left for Dead, and Survive the Savage Sea. All great reads.

I’ll maybe get Tony Bullimore’s book.

A friend of a friend of mine attempted to sail round the world solo. Got as far as the South Atlantic and got sunk in a storm. Had to take to his liferaft and activate his emergency beacon. He was picked up within 14 hours. Must have been a long 14 hours. I asked him about it at a curry night but he didn’t say too much about it. Maybe one of these things where you can get tire of telling the story over and over again.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/solo-sailor-saved-after-yacht-962200