Commodore
March 13, 2023

Monday 13 March – May Day call sobers us up big time!

It was a very slow start to the day with the winds sadly not doing what they are forecast to do. We got a tiny bit of wind above 10 knots but not a lot so it was a slow day, 130 miles in the last 24 hours.

We were all getting a bit grumbly about the situation after lunch as the sails were flapping about and noisy, suddenly Rowan leapt up and said there was a mayday call, a sailing vessel called Raindancer (not part of the fleet) had hit a whale, and their boat had sunk, the 4 crew were now bobbing in a life raft in the middle of the Arc fleet’s path. Boy did that make us sit up and think how far we are from anywhere out here and how lucky we are to be with the Arc fleet. Rowan went into action contacting boats as the call had only reached a couple of boats. He worked out that the boat called ‘Far’ behind us, was closest, he managed to get Lorraine on the phone. Poor thing it was her 69th birthday today, one to remember as she became the main communicator of the rescue being the closest Arc boat. There were 4 other Arc boats closer than us, who altered course to sail towards the life raft, which had a satellite and was able to give it’s coordinates. It was soon established that Rolling Stones a non Arc boat who we overtook during the first week, was closest, about 30 miles away and would take 4-5 hours to get to the raft. Everyone rallied, and soon British and American Coastguards were on the case and the nearest big tankers were being diverted and contacted. We were too far ahead to help but offered to take crew on board if needed. By supper time we all felt a little better as in these calm waters and with loads of boats heading to them, the mood was pretty confident they would be safely retrieved.

Han was on the 6-9pm shift and when she came to call Rowan at 9:30pm for his shift (she sweetly gave hime an extra half hour!) she shared the good news that all the crew of Raindancer had been successfully rescued by Rolling Stones and all was good.

Phew what a relief! What a well coordinated rescue, this is when it pays big time to be part of the Arc. Interestingly I had heard talk of non Arc boats doing the Pacific crossing at the same time as the Arc just so they could be crossing this enormous expanse of ocean at the same time as other boats. Now the rest of the fleet must avoid the debris from Raindancer. Nevil who has crewed this crossing before with the Arc, was saying last time he did it they had 20 knots of wind on average the whole crossing. He said that meant the Arc fleet dispersed incredibly quickly as fast boats shot ahead. With this crossing because we all have limited fuel so cant motor flat out, and there is so little wind, the fleet is remarkably close together and with Starlink a lot of us are in good contact, it makes it a lot more reassuring out here in the middle of nowhere!