Sailboat went off course into Algeria

[atoll]

LOL! i go away and do some fiberglassing,and get back to the spanish inquisition.........

and not a SQUEAK or APOLOGY from "THE MAN FROM TOM CLANCY".........................

thanks arcticcatmatt for clearing that up,i never doubted you

[tdominic_97]

Atoll, Paul has some new person to badger and tell how he isn't going to waste his time till the person gives him more information, even though he types 500+ words to explain this.

[SaltyMonkey]

unbelievable.

[SaltyMonkey]

I have a theory that Tom Clancy and the OP are really the same person with two different logins. Prove me wrong i dare.

[BandB]

Reality is that when someone posts such as this one, you provide the appropriate answers on the assumption it's real, regardless of what you believe. If it's real you assist the person. If it's not, you provide useful information others might use. There's lots on this site that may not be factual but if it's not someone after something such as money then it really doesn't matter. There is no reason to attack on the chance it might not be legitimate. Paul posted yesterday that he'd been on boats with turbos. Do we know whether he truly has been or not? Web forums are not places where all people and all information is verified. But requests for information and assistance should just be considered legitimate and treated as such unless or until there is some abuse of the forum.

[Paul Annapolis]

This was from an earlier post:
Originally Posted by brazenarticle
You are in the US -
To contact the Department of State in the U.S. call 1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. or Canada) or (202) 501-4444 (from overseas).

Probably worth a phone call to the US Coast Guard for advice too. They'll certainly know who you should contact.

Best of luck, hope all is well......

And this is the thread response from the OP:


"No answer but thanks for the numbers! 1 was fax, no answer at the other."

I just called both numbers on a Saturday afternoon. They both work and are for the Bureau of Consular Affairs Overseas assistance offices. Why did they not work for the OP?

So again I say, agree or disagree with me, but why attack me personally? Why attack every single Annapolis or Chesapeake bay sailor as well? It's just silly. And no I don't have a tin foil hat. It's wool but my antenna stick through so I get good reception.

I knew someone would suggest I contact the UK and was already working on that for verification. I am not afraid of the truth and am doing my best to get the facts and as I said, I may be wrong. And if I am, I will post as such. In the meantime, I again say agree or disagree but let's stop with the mean spirited comments that attempt to paint me and every other Annapolitan (guilt by association??) in some negative way. And no, I am not a conspiracy nut either. In fact I just got a message through my wool hatted antenna that Elvis is online so I gotta go.....

[atoll]

[QUOTE=Paul Annapolis;1510251]This was from an earlier post:
Originally Posted by brazenarticle
You are in the US -
To contact the Department of State in the U.S. call 1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. or Canada) or (202) 501-4444 (from overseas).

Probably worth a phone call to the US Coast Guard for advice too. They'll certainly know who you should contact.

Best of luck, hope all is well......

And this is the thread response from the OP:


"No answer but thanks for the numbers! 1 was fax, no answer at the other."

I just called both numbers on a Saturday afternoon. They both work and are for the Bureau of Consular Affairs Overseas assistance offices. Why did they not work for the OP?

So again I say, agree or disagree with me, but why attack me personally? Why attack every single Annapolis or Chesapeake bay sailor as well? It's just silly. And no I don't have a tin foil hat. It's wool but my antenna stick through so I get good reception.

I knew someone would suggest I contact the UK and was already working on that for verification. I am not afraid of the truth and am doing my best to get the facts and as I said, I may be wrong. And if I am, I will post as such. In the meantime, I again say agree or disagree but let's stop with the mean spirited comments that attempt to paint me and every other Annapolitan (guilt by association??) in some negative way. And no, I am not a conspiracy nut either. In fact I just got a message through my wool hatted antenna that Elvis is online so I gotta go.....[/QUOTE




i will accept above comments as an apology and let things rest....

unless you want to dig a deeper hole for yourself regarding mean spirited comments that you started in the first place

[Paul Annapolis]

I thought you were doing some fiberglass work with the Spanish Inquisition. Careful with the fumes. What do you say about the OP's claims that two phone numbers to the US Department of State were not working and I just found they are? Why would the OP tell such a story? Were both numbers to the federal government out of order that day? Why would he say one was a fax line? Again--we shall let the facts play out and if I am digging a hole,I will admit I was wrong but am not afraid to find out the facts or to be proven wrong so please don't be so quick to accept what I have written as an apology or to judge me. If that is necessary, then there will be an apology. And the Elvis thing was a false alarm. It was Jimmy Hoffa. (sorry about that one)

[atoll]

apology accepted,now can we get on with real life.....
some of us have a life other than nit picking on cruisers forum.....

[tdominic_97]

Paul,

What are you lacking in real life that you try so hard on the internet? It is just an informal group of people posting thoughts and ideas. Is your real name Brook? I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but I find your post long winded and rude.

[Sailing Cowboy]

The question is Paul.......was Atoll really doing fiberglass work or not.........hmmmm.....sorry couldn't resist.

[CR38]

Originally Posted by arcticcatmatt

Got thru to MRCC in the UK. They took a bunch of information and are making phone calls to check on the safety of the vessel. I hope everything is OK and she doesn't kill me for this. The man sounded concerned that the boat went right to an Alergian Navy Dock.

Algeria is a Western Ally state and has a reasonably professional military. If the boat is at an Algerian Navy Facility all will be just fine.

[bornyesterday]

"agree or disagree with me, but why attack me personally?"

Doesn't your relentless and increasingly tedious challenging of the OP's honesty constitute a personal attack on him?

I'll be very sad if you take this as a personal attack

[ShaunJ]

I just found the ignore button, only one person on it at this point.

ShaunJ

[Paul Annapolis]

FACT: The OP could not figure out how to contact the US State Department.
FACT: He said he came up with information about hotels when he tried to locate the US embassy in Algiers.
FACT: He said he was receiving real time GPS location from the boat but there were no other communications with the boat or crew for days--even when supposedly on shore. He can use a GPS but can't do a web search for a federal government office?
FACT: His major concern was not the safety or location of the boat at sea but the personal and "political" safety of the boat and crew in Algiers--so he goes to two online forums for sailors because he cannot have any comms with the boat instead of finding US government authorities. AT that point it was not so much a maritime rescue situation as it was a potentially political/diplomatic situation.
FACT: Accurate information was given to the OP about contacting the US State Department. He said both numbers were incorrect. They were correct. Why would he have said they were not? How come this fact is disregarded by everyone?
FACT: The OP or someone here spoke of Force 9 winds forcing the boat to divert. I checked actual weather date from Algiers and found nothing of the sort--only 10-35 knot winds. The Facebook Page for Malta (intended destination)weather at https://www.facebook.com/maltaweathersite/notes shows these forecasts (they are only forecasts and the apparent dates of the boat altering course was april 1-3 but we do not know)
March 29-
• Weather Warnings: Nil.
• Wind: ESE to E Force 6 (strong).

March 30• Weather Warnings: Nil.

April 1: Weather Warnings: Nil.• Wind: NNW backing W Force 3 (light).

April 2• Weather Warnings: Nil.

• Wind: WSW Force 2 backing S Force 4 (light becoming moderate).

April 3
• Weather Warnings: Wind SE Force 7 from around 6pm onwards.

• Wind: SSE Force 5 backing SE Force 7 (moderate becoming strong).

April 4
Weather Warnings: Wind SSE Force 7 till around 3am.

• Wind: W to NW Force 4 to 5 backing SSW Force 3 (moderate becoming light).

So maybe the boat was in Force 9 winds. Maybe sea conditions were horrible. Maybe the boat did divert. Maybe there was no boat at all? April 2 3 and 4 show forecasts for WSW, SSW and SSE which would mean basically coming from Africa/Algiers which would have been very difficult to get to there, (we think they were originally sailing to Malta-yes?) whereas Palma or Spain would have presumably been downwind. Perhaps they had passed Algiers and turned back downwind? Again, we don't know the facts here but I am trying to ascertain them.
I'm not afraid of the facts or of the calumny here. If and when I am proven wrong I'll apologize here....and my antennae need some polishing so I gotta go. Maybe I should switch to tin foil?