Brave guys on this 18 hour rescue in gail force wind.
Sailors heading to Victoria from Hawaii rescued in rough seas off Vancouver Island's west coast
By Cindy E. Harnett, timescolonist.com March 18, 2011 11:39 AM Be the first to post a comment
Victoria, B.C. - Three sailors are safe after their Victoria-bound sailboat, that was taking on water in rough seas off Tofino’s coast, was towed into Tahsis this morning.
At 12:05 p.m. yesterday the Cape Anne motor life boat, stationed at Tofino, was notified that a 38-foot sailboat was stranded about 50 nautical miles west of Tofino. About three hours later, three sailors were rescued.
The sailboat “had become disabled in a gale to storm force winds and was taking on water,” said coast guard officer Bob Bennett.
The four-person lifeboat crew spent 18 grueling hours — three hours out and 15 hours back — towing the sailboat, said coast guard officer Wayne Bamford.
Building four- metre swells and south-east gale force winds of 90-100 km/h gale-force winds made it impossible to return to Tofino and forced the rescue crew to head north to Tahsis.
As well, the sailors were left on their boat as it was too dangerous to attempt transferring them to the rescue boat. (The rescue vessel is a lean boat with no toilet, cooking facilities, bunks or food storage).
“It’s preferable to take them off to be on the more secure vessel but if the weather conditions mean putting them at greater risk if you take them off the boat, you leave them on,” Bamford said.
The crew and rescued sailors arrived in Tahsis, in Nootka Sound, at 5:30 a.m. this morning.
They took shelter in a residence owned by the department of Fisheries and Oceans officer and are now getting much needed rest, said Bamford.
A Transport Canada plane, TC951, was conducting a routine flight to monitors shipping activity Thursday when it came across the Australian-registered sailboat, headed to Victoria from Hawaii, that looked to be adrift.
The Transport Canada plane made contact with the sailors who indicated they weren’t in immediate distress or in a life-and-death situation but the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre determined “before night was out it would be,” said Bamford.
That determination was based on degrading weather conditions, heavy seas, forecast gale-force winds and the sailboat’s damaged mast, hull and communication system.
“We felt it was prudent,” Bamford said. Because of possible damage to the boat’s antenna, the sailors couldn’t communicate with the rescue vessel four nautical miles away — a normal range would be 20 nautical miles — and even the plane had to use a type of Morse-code to communicate with the boat because of radio problems.
“The sailing vessel itself couldn’t communicate with anyone because of damage to antenna,” Bamford said. “Our concern was if they got into greater difficulty they wouldn’t be able to let us know that.”
In the sheltered waters of Tahsis the sailors can now repair their boat.
“All are safe and sound and ashore,” Bamford said.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/S...d+west+coast/4466038/story.html#ixzz1Gz21DuKL
Sailors heading to Victoria from Hawaii rescued in rough seas off Vancouver Island's west coast
By Cindy E. Harnett, timescolonist.com March 18, 2011 11:39 AM Be the first to post a comment
Victoria, B.C. - Three sailors are safe after their Victoria-bound sailboat, that was taking on water in rough seas off Tofino’s coast, was towed into Tahsis this morning.
At 12:05 p.m. yesterday the Cape Anne motor life boat, stationed at Tofino, was notified that a 38-foot sailboat was stranded about 50 nautical miles west of Tofino. About three hours later, three sailors were rescued.
The sailboat “had become disabled in a gale to storm force winds and was taking on water,” said coast guard officer Bob Bennett.
The four-person lifeboat crew spent 18 grueling hours — three hours out and 15 hours back — towing the sailboat, said coast guard officer Wayne Bamford.
Building four- metre swells and south-east gale force winds of 90-100 km/h gale-force winds made it impossible to return to Tofino and forced the rescue crew to head north to Tahsis.
As well, the sailors were left on their boat as it was too dangerous to attempt transferring them to the rescue boat. (The rescue vessel is a lean boat with no toilet, cooking facilities, bunks or food storage).
“It’s preferable to take them off to be on the more secure vessel but if the weather conditions mean putting them at greater risk if you take them off the boat, you leave them on,” Bamford said.
The crew and rescued sailors arrived in Tahsis, in Nootka Sound, at 5:30 a.m. this morning.
They took shelter in a residence owned by the department of Fisheries and Oceans officer and are now getting much needed rest, said Bamford.
A Transport Canada plane, TC951, was conducting a routine flight to monitors shipping activity Thursday when it came across the Australian-registered sailboat, headed to Victoria from Hawaii, that looked to be adrift.
The Transport Canada plane made contact with the sailors who indicated they weren’t in immediate distress or in a life-and-death situation but the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre determined “before night was out it would be,” said Bamford.
That determination was based on degrading weather conditions, heavy seas, forecast gale-force winds and the sailboat’s damaged mast, hull and communication system.
“We felt it was prudent,” Bamford said. Because of possible damage to the boat’s antenna, the sailors couldn’t communicate with the rescue vessel four nautical miles away — a normal range would be 20 nautical miles — and even the plane had to use a type of Morse-code to communicate with the boat because of radio problems.
“The sailing vessel itself couldn’t communicate with anyone because of damage to antenna,” Bamford said. “Our concern was if they got into greater difficulty they wouldn’t be able to let us know that.”
In the sheltered waters of Tahsis the sailors can now repair their boat.
“All are safe and sound and ashore,” Bamford said.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/S...d+west+coast/4466038/story.html#ixzz1Gz21DuKL
