Pear Link
Contact me on:
  • Home
  • The Chain Locker Blog
  • Personal
  • Professional
  • Links & Enthusiasms
  • Contact Me

Merchant Sailors Save Another Yacht Crew

11/10/2012

0 Comments

 
THE CHAIN LOCKER
Picture
CHENGTU - apparently under a former name - leaving Newcastle. Click for Maritime Executive news item
We're all accustomed to being on the sea - weeks, perhaps, away from the sight of land. We may not think much about it. After all, we carry our world with us: its joys and frustrations, its commonplace everyday happenings. Chow, work, that SOB who got the Bos'n's  job and is now making our lives miserable, the new Captain and what he's like - it's all pretty consuming, and fills our everyday world during the long days at sea. The horizon rings us in, and the sight of another ship is a curiosity.

Then something happens that draws our attention outward. This was such an occurrence for the crew of CHENGTU. This news story from Maritime Executive gives us the basic facts.

CHENGTU, like HORIZON RELIANCE (see HORIZON RELIANCE 1, 2, 3, & 4  in the Categories list to the right of the page) responded to a yacht in distress. The yacht WINDIGO, between Tonga and New Zealand, sent a distress message on Wednesday. CHENGTU responded , along with another yacht, ADVENTURE BOUND, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force, whose P3-Orion made three trips to the scene and provided the only communications link. 

A statement from RNZAF said: "This is the outcome we have been working towards since the emergency beacon was activated on Wednesday afternoon. It is the result of an excellent coordination effort involving the RNZAF, which provided a link for the two people on the WINDIGO when there was no other means of contact, and I would also like to express my appreciation to the captain of the CHENGTU and the crew of the ADVENTURE BOUND for their efforts."

Picture
Steven Jones & Tanya Davies - click photo for news item from Stuff.co.nz
Steven Jones and Tanya Davies, crew of WINDIGO, had both suffered injuries when the yacht rolled in a storm two days out from Tonga. Speaking before the rescue, Steven Jones' mother said the pair originally feared that the yacht would sink. The yacht had taken on water during the roll and was disabled and unable to navigate. She said 75 km/hr winds and 10m waves were battering the yacht. Here is a news item from the New Zealand site Stuff.co.nz.

Picture
Click chart to go to BBC news story
Here is the location of the rescue, 700km (435 miles) south west of Tonga and 1,260km (783 miles) from New Zealand. CHENGTU apparently dropped heaving lines to the damaged yacht and pulled the two injured yachtsmen aboard - I haven't read any account of how this was done. In 10m seas and 75km winds, it was a nice bit of shiphandling and an extraordinary effort by CHENGTU's crew. Here is another report from BBC News.

Those sailors on CHENGTU may have done what we all would do - but they did it. No matter how cozy or confining our shipboard world may seem at times, it's fundamentally a lonely ocean. We'd quickly realize our isolation if we were in distress. Thank God for men like those on CHENGTU! And may we be like them when we're called upon to render aid to someone on the suddenly lonely ocean.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    THE CHAIN LOCKER BLOG

    Author

    Reid is a career mariner who, after a lifetime afloat, still loves his profession. Thus this blog!

    THE CHAIN LOCKER blog welcomes your comments and photos - we have a big industry, so write & help us to understand your corner of it! All submissions are welcome.

    Archives

    August 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011

    Categories

    All
    1800s Anchor Found
    Abandoned Seafarers
    Adrian Vasquez
    Adrian Vs Princess
    Arctic Oil Exploration
    Asian Shipowners Forum
    Avocet
    Banquo's Ghost
    Big "U"
    Bravery 2013 Imo
    Capt. Schettino
    Capt. Schettino's Logic
    Capt. Schettino Update
    Chengtu Saves Yachtsmen
    China-Argentina Delivery
    Cma Cgm Marco Polo
    Costa Concordia
    Costa Concordia Ais
    Costa Concordia Black Box
    Costa Concordia Br Video
    Costa Concordia Discovery Channel
    Costa Concordia From Space
    Costa Concordia Salvage
    Costa Concordia Schettino U/D
    Costa Concordia Wrap-up
    Costa Concordia Wreck
    Daylight Saving Time
    Dheeraj Tirawi - Hero
    Disney Fantasy Rescues 4
    Distraction
    Ecdis Knowledge Deficient
    Ecdis Problems Noted: Iho
    Enrica Lexie Released
    Enrica Lexie Settlement
    Eof
    Eu Attacks Pirates Ashore
    Eu Navfor Attacks Ashore
    Fatigue Video
    Felix Luckner
    Filipino Seamen Bubble 2
    Filipino Seamen On Bubble
    Fire Fighting Robot
    First Post - An Invitation
    Fishermen Ignored
    Fishermen Shot
    Fit 1
    Fit 2
    Fit 3
    Freeman Rhuland
    Gearbulk Lays Off Crews
    Gert B Buttgenbach
    Hisham Almiraat
    Homemade Wind Turbines
    Horizon Fatigue Study
    Horizon Reliance 1
    Horizon Reliance 2
    Horizon Reliance 3
    Horizon Reliance 4
    How To Participate
    Hybrid Osv
    Iceberg-1
    Iceberg 1 Mag
    Iceberg 1 - Time To Act
    Iceberg 1 Website
    Iceberg I A. Burney
    Iceberg I Movie
    Iceberg I - Petition
    Icebreaker Aiviq
    Icebreaker Aiviq Video
    Keel Walk
    Kennebec Captain
    Large Bridge Teams
    Let's Connect!
    Lng
    Lngcoldfacts Blog
    LNG-Powered Tug
    Maersk Texas
    Mag Twitter Account
    Mariner's Fatigue
    Maritime Mentors
    Masters
    Missing Vdr Data
    Mlc Ratification
    Mv Eglantine
    Mv Iceberg 1 Mag Blog
    Mv Prabha Daya
    Mv Xianghuamen Freed
    Northern Sea Route
    Nuclear Icebreaker
    Ocean Waves
    Panama Canal Time-Lapse
    Patriotism
    Piracy Survivor Alex
    Piracy The Human Cost Video
    Piracy Water Cannon
    Pirate Attacks 2011-12
    Pirate Coast Video
    Pirates Battle Nato
    Pirates Ransom Their Own
    Pirates Up Ante
    Please Send Pictures
    Prohibiting Ransoms
    Rescue At Sea
    Rolls-Royce LNG Engine
    Rotortug
    Rotortug Redux
    Seagoing Automobiles
    Seeadler
    Shipwrecks
    Skandi Vega
    SOS - Save Our Seafarers
    Star Princess
    Starting Out
    Stcw Manning Math
    This Is Your Blog!
    Tugboat In Trouble
    Usns Rappahannock
    Uss Miami
    Viking Lady
    Watch Systems
    W. Laurence Allen
    Women At Sea
    Yekaterinburg
    Youth

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly