UK yacht Cheeki Rafiki missing in mid-Atlantic

[mistermizu]

Cheeki Rafiki did the ARC last November, and would have had to be kitted out as follows: "Our requirements are based on the ISAF standards, and include: an offshore liferaft with a more than 24 hour pack, 406MHz EPIRB, a means of sending and receiving email at sea (satellite phone or SSB/pactor), AIS receiver and man-overboard equipment. We also require every person onboard to have an inflatable combined lifejacket-harness (PFD) with a spray hood, crotch strap and safety line".
Very unlikely that the yacht would not carry the same equipment for the return transatlantic.
http://www.worldcruising.com/CMS/CMS...ations_ENG.pdf

[CarlF]

Zboss,

Astounding. 150 miles and multiple charter skippers without noticing a missing keel.

I stand corrected.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Adodero

How survivable are liferafts in foul weather?

Is it reasonable to assume that, if weather conditions are bad enough, survival aboard a liferaft would be improbable, resulting in the search being called off?

Yes, Adodero,

that is basically the issue here. The water was reported variously as being 60 deg. F to 62 deg. F. Bullimore's survival in the Southern Ocean was due to his survival suit, his personal water maker, and the protection from the elements his upturned hull offered, combined with a superlative effort by the Australian Navy. ....or perhaps it just wasn't yet "his time"...

Those sailors of the Cheeki Rafiki were searched for for over double their expected survival time in those high winds and cross seas, and this in spite of the fact that rescue would have been very difficult had a liferaft been sighted.

This is just a terribly sad situation.

Ann

[tonywatson58]

Originally Posted by nigel1

Some explanation as to why the box boat did not launch a lifeboat to check out the capsized yacht.
Box boats will roll on wet grass, in any sort of large seaway, being beam on, the ship will roll, in many cases violently (reason for all those lost containers at sea)
Ships lifeboats are designed to be launched in an emergency, not to be recovered.
They most likely had a small MOB boat, maybe a 3 or 4m rib, again, not easy to launch or recover at sea, and the crews certainly will not have practised boat work in heavy seas.
The old man of that ship would have to decide was it worth risking the live's of 3 or 4 of his crew against the possibility that they might find someone in the yacht, and then would he then be able to recover the MOB boat.

My thought's are with the family, there is still some hope.

Fully concur Nigel. But maybe the USCG should have asked her to "stand by" until they could get out there - the Master volunteered I have heard...

[tonywatson58]

A story to give us hope at these dark times...

Shipwrecked for 38 days: the real life family Robertson - Telegraph

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by tonywatson58

A story to give us hope at these dark times...

Shipwrecked for 38 days: the real life family Robertson - Telegraph

Great article. I read the book years ago.

Thanks for showing the link.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by ka4wja

Liferaft "survivability" is a touchy subject....mainly because there are many variables....
Not the least of which are the raft itself (type/style/etc.), the persons in the raft (age/health/status of injury), the location and weather, etc...

SNIP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John
s/v Annie Laurie

John, very much agree.
In Australia they have times also for survivability in the water as well which they use to base search time.
In the 70’s I was involved in a search for a missing diver in the Great barrier reef waters off Gladstone (near Heron Is area.) it was at the Australian Spearfishing championships in the middle of summer and an experiencedwoman diver was missing at rollcall at the end of the event from which we were using a large Catamaran mother ship and a number of smaller powerboats as pickup boats provided by the local divers.
Weather conditions were very calm at that time although currents were strong.She had been caught and taken off the Small Island reef.We searched extensively with a full search pattern close to the island with divers and could not find a body or any sign of her. By this time the police had arrived from the mainland to take over.
Their opinion was that she had been taken by a shark and it was little use continuing. We persuaded them to continue and searched until dark in our powerboats and then had to persuade the police to continue the search the following day and organise refuelling at nearby Heron Island for our boats.
Conditions deteriorated the next day with rain and strong windsandwe worked search patterns recommended by the most experienced diversin the area current would have taken her.Can’t recall exact details but I think the police shut the search down at the end of that day leaving us only enough fuel to get back to Gladstone. Helicopters and planes were also used.
On advise from Australian search and rescue the time in the water for survivability was up and it was unlikely she would be alive and the Police in charge called the search off and sent us back to Gladstone.Being locals we knew an experienced diver in a wetsuit with a float at the warmest time of the year she would likely still be floating.We were planning to head out on our own search the next day after refuelling in Gladstone.
As it turned out the current bought her back to the island the next day and she was spotted by the Heron Island helicopter on its way to the Island. The diver had seen our boats searching looking for her the previous day in the difficult visability helping her state of mind.
I think Search & Rescue have since revised their survivability information since those days.A key memory was trying to convince those in charge to continue the search.

Woman Skindiver Drifts 47 Hours In Open Sea .

news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19830106...

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Susan Docker, was found by a helicopter pilot Wednesday on the island in the Great Barrier Reef, said her husband, Greg. He said his wife was swept ... A full wetsuit apparently saved her from severe sunburn. Helicopter Pilot David Hogan ...

[minaret]

I've been suggesting that folks on this forum consider buying a gumby suit for some time. Considering the cost of a liferaft and inspections, they are dirt cheap. I got mine used on Craigslist. They usually run about $150, and are an item which has generally never been used. Fishermen are required to buy them, and often sell when they quit fishing. There are always several on Seattle CL around this price range. I even got two kids models used on CL, as well as two adult models, all for around $500. Much much less than the liferaft and inspection, and at least as likely to save your life. All Alaskan fishermen practice putting on their Gumby suits fast. This incident certainly seems to reinforce that.


Stearns Immersion/ Survival Suit


http://www.ebay.com/itm/STEARNS-IMME...item417c26e807


http://www.landfallnavigation.com/stearnsi590.html

[Cormorant]

I think I've told this story here before but I'll repeat it anyway. . . . I'm a volunteer firefighter in my little town, and in the winter we do ice rescue drills -- cutting a hole in the ice with a chain saw and having someone jump in with the gumby suit on. Then someone else jumps in (also wearing a gumby suit) to practice clipping a rescue line around the victim, and the rest of the guys haul them both out. The warmest place by far on those cold, windy winter nights is in the gumby suit, in the water. They're amazing.

In the case of Cheeky Rafiki, it sounds like she went over fast and there wouldn't have been time to don a gumby suit. But you never know.

[boatman61]

Just heard a report that one of the PLB's went of on Friday morning.. then five hours later the second one was set of.. so that makes at least two people off the boat.. maybe in a raft..
Could even be all four.. just the two likely off watch crew did not have time to grab theirs..
Speculation I know.. but hell.. give em more than 53hrs..
How many weeks and billions have been spent on 200 plus dead people.. and they have not found a thing..
Politics at play there methinks.. buga all else..

[tonywatson58]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Great article. I read the book years ago.

Thanks for showing the link.

Welcome Mark! It was a great book and a truly amazing story

[Rustic Charm]

We'll, I'm not moved by the usual armchair survival experts of CF, all I know is that if it was me, or my family and friends, I'd be wanting them to be out there searching a damn lot more than a few days. And I happily pay my taxes to ensure this happens.

[plato-gb]

I'm with you on that.
Does anyone think there is something the US Coastguard knows that they haven't made public that makes them apparently so sure the sailors are beyond saving?

[plato-gb]

what's needed is an aircraft carrier. There are various with home port Norfolk VA.
Anyone know how to find nearest one?
I really do get the feeling that if these sailors were US instead of UK taxpayers the search might not have been suspended with such alacrity.
Excuse any political incorrectness but it's the elephant in the room.........

[boatman61]

Well I've seen one poodling around ENE of Bermuda.. once in 2004 then again in '05...
Did think of calling them for help in '04 when the bulkhead popping out freaked me.. but it was just a fleeting thought.. so sailed back to Beaufort instead.. silly really.. the Azores were closer