April 13, 2008

Finding Windswept;
Quite an emotional rollercoaster has carried us along since the last email. About an hour after I sent that, I was moderating the Rag of the Air radio net, about to close it when I got a call from Richard on Windswept. They had drifted just out of range of sight and radar, but had set a drogue to slow their drift. They were over 20 miles west of us. a bit too far for us to reach them with a sailboat unless it was a dire emergency, but thought they could sail back. I suggested a possible repair for the engine, and they said they'd try that, and with either sail or motor or both work their way back to Majuro. We set up an hourly schedule with the SSB to make sure they were OK, and all of us in Aur except for Ken on Moonbird (who was monitoring the radio) headed in for the church service and the days activities.
The preacher here is notorious for a couple of things; unceasingly long winded and boring (even when you can understand the language), and incredibly blatant about prying donations from his parishioners, then sending the proceeds directly to his family in Majuro. Between the church service and the inauguration of a new council, then some carrying on about the celebration activities, which were scheduled pretty much entirely for Monday, it was after 2:00 PM when we got back to the boats and checked with Ken. He said Chris had reported only limited success with the engine, and that they were going to set some sail, then try to improve the engine repair while under way. As Ken was finishing this report on the VHF radio, Chris broke in on the SSB with a mayday call. When they unfurled the jib, the headstay had broken, and the mast had come down. It was in the water pounding against the boat. Fortunately their antenna for the SSB was an unusual arrangement that left it still putting out at least a weak signal even with the mast and rig gone.
We confirmed that we knew the situation and their latest position, and I headed for the village to round up Spike and the highest government official there. Within a half hour we had notified the rescue services for the entire sector 14 region, including Majuro, Kwajelein, Hawaii, and New Zealand. Spike and I were getting ready to go on the rescue, using a Marshall Islands Marine Resources boat that had brought officials from Majuro. The Minister of the Interior was here, and was coordinating whether this was the best option. It turned out that the big patrol boat from Majuro was calling in the crew, and could reach them as soon as we could and with more resources on board. Because of the weak signal from Windswept they couldn't hear Chris, and the yachts in Aur had to act as relays to maintain communications. Richard and Chris got the mast disconnected from the rig, losing the whole rig but minimizing damage to the boat. Then we continued with hourly schedules and continuous monitoring of the SSB. It took until 5:00 this morning to get the patrol boat out to them, and that would have been nearly impossible without the radio relays. Ken and I stayed at our radios all night. He never went to sleep, while I napped for 40 minutes or so between each scheduled call. Chris and Richard missed a few calls after telling us they were going to get some sleep so they could function. With the boat stable, that was the best thing they could do.
The patrol boat reached them at dawn, and within an hour the two marine engineers were put aboard and had the engine running. They are now driving the boat to Majuro with the patrol boat escorting. Ken's asleep, I had a short nap and will go ashore with Karen for the sporting events as soon as I send this. So, not exactly all right, but far better outcome (so far) than we feared for a while. We'll try to concentrate more on the Aur community now, and will write more later. Ted