We’ve seen it movies — mariners stranded on an uninhabited island signaling their plight and being rescued. This week the scenario was real when three mariners were rescued from a tiny, uninhabited island in Micronesia after laying out palm fronds on the beach to spell “HELP.” On April 6, a relative notified the USCG that her three uncles had failed to return home after departing Poluwat Atoll on March 31 aboard a 20-ft outboard-powered open skiff.

The experienced mariners, all in their 40s, had been heading for Pikelot Atoll, approximately 100 miles northwest of Poluwat. They were in familiar waters but had sustained damage to their skiff and outboard, becoming stranded on the small island covering less than 2000 square feet. On April 7, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft identified the stranded men and confirmed their presence and condition. The aircraft crew successfully dropped survival packages to sustain the mariners until further assistance could arrive.

On April 8, a US Coast Guard Hercules aircraft from Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, flew over the area and dropped a radio to establish communication. The mariners confirmed they were in good health, had access to food and water, and had recovered their damaged skiff. The next morning, they were picked up by the USCG’s 154-ft Fast Response Cutter Oliver Henry. The men and their equipment were taken aboard and returned to their home port, Poluwat Atoll.

The rescue operation was a coordination of US Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam and the US Navy. USCG Lt. Chelsea Garcia, the search and rescue mission coordinator on the day the mariners were located, said spelling out “HELP” on the beach with the palm fronds was a crucial factor in their discovery. “This act of ingenuity was pivotal in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location,” Lt. Garcia said. “This successful operation underscores the effective coordination and partnership between the US Coast Guard, the US Navy, and regional partners. We extend our gratitude to everyone involved.”

The USCG concluded their report with the recommendation that “all mariners equip their vessels with an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) to enhance safety on the water. A growing number of maritime communities offer loaner programs for these devices, making it easier for everyone to access this critical safety tool.”

We wrote about a similar rescue in 2020 when mariners were rescued from an uninhabited beach in Micronesia after writing SOS on the beach. You can read that story here: SOS

The post Mariners Rescued From Uninhabited Island After Writing “HELP” With Palm Fronds appeared first on Latitude38.

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The Salty Dawg Sailing Association says that two of its members have vanished and their boat found anchored and abandoned off St. Vincent. Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, longtime members of the SDSA, were last anchored in Grenada; their 48-foot St. Francis catamaran, Simplicity, was found anchored and abandoned off a beach on the south coast of St. Vincent.

Officials believe their disappearance may be connected to three dangerous inmates who had escaped from a Grenada prison, the organization said in a media release.

“This is very upsetting event, and details are still unconfirmed by the authorities, but this does appear to be a tragic event–our hopes and prayers are with Ralph and Kathy and the family who love them,” said SDSA President Bob Osborn. “I have spoken to the families and have offered our deepest condolences and our assistance in any way possible. In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this.”

From the SDSA release:

On Wednesday, February 21, [2024] the Salty Dawg Sailing Association Executive Director Tatja

Hopman was alerted by a cruising skipper that a member’s yacht, Simplicity, was anchored and abandoned off a beach on the south coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent.

The good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted that the owners, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, were not onboard and found evidence of apparent violence. Contact information for the SDSA was posted and the skipper contacted the association.

The good Samaritan contacted the St. Vincent coast guard alerting them of the situation; they in turn notified the local police. The Coast Guard took possession of Simplicity and the St. Vincent police are currently investigating with the U.S Embassy and the Grenada police department.

Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry are veteran cruisers and longtime members of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association from its earliest days. Warm-hearted and capable, they both contributed to building the SDSA, and Kathy sat on the association’s board for two years.

Kathy and Ralph had sailed Simplicity in the 2023 Caribbean Rally from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua and were spending the winter cruising the Eastern Caribbean. The SDSA has a live member’s tracking map where boats can be followed as they cruise, and Simplicity’s track shows that Kathy and Ralph were anchored in Grenada and then the boat moved directly to its last anchorage off St. Vincent.

Shortly after the incident was reported to police, news came out that three dangerous inmates had escaped from a Grenada prison and were at large. It is speculated that the escapees boarded Simplicity. Wednesday afternoon, St. Vincent police reported that the three suspects had been detained.

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association is a Rhode Island registered 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to fostering seamanship, safety at sea, passagemaking, and the camaraderie of the cruising community. www.saltydawgsailing.org

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Folks, we’ve got another missing submersible on our hands, but don’t worry. There aren’t any billionaires on board. In fact, no one is onboard the sub that was exploring underneath the “Doomsday Glacier” in Antarctica. You’d think we’d stay away from things with “doomsday” in the name, but that’s just human nature I guess.

In a press release posted on Sci Tech Daily, Sweden’s University of Gothenburg said its robotic submersible, called “Ran” after the Norse goddess of the sea, went missing during its second voyage beneath Thwaite’s Glacier – a.k.a the Doomsday Glacier – in Antarctica over the weekend. It got that name because scientists fear that if it melts entirely, it could cause the sea to rise to a devastating level. Not great! Read on.

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What is it about us humans (especially men) that makes us so competitive? The days of fighting to win partners, food, and territory ended eons ago. We are no longer on the survival-of-the-fittest treadmill. Yet still the urge to prove ourselves stronger, smarter or more skillful drives many of us to the edge of reasonable behavior. Even in such a rules-based sporting environment as sailing this motivation to dominate seems unstoppable.

Everyone likes to win on the water, but at what cost? To my mind, it is simplistic to view this problem only from the perspective of dollars spent on boats, sails, and rigs. Vast amounts were expended a century ago on America’s Cup campaigns equivalent to today’s obscene budgets for the same event. The crucial difference is that back then, at the more modest levels of club and national competitions, the prevailing ethic was Corinthian. It was assumed that a true ‘sporting’ contest where the only prizes were trophies was between amateurs.

Today, professionalism in sailing is so widespread that it is accepted in classes and regattas previously considered to be the natural preserves of those who competed for love, not money.  The effect of this goes well beyond the impact of ‘hired gun’ rock star skippers and crew. Professionalism in sailing has become a whatever-it-takes attitude that purports to justify hyper-aggressive tactics and rule-bending.

Consider just one example. There seems little doubt that the J/70 has become the world’s most popular new sports keelboat class. They are terrific, affordable little craft and, as befits a good one-design, offer consistently close racing. That principle is reflected in the very first words of the current Class Rules of the International J/70 Class Association:

“The J/70 Class has been created as a strict one-design class wherein the true test while racing is between crews and not boats and equipment. The fundamental objective of these Class Rules is to ensure that this concept is maintained.” 

A fine sentiment, and one with which we might hope that any decent sailor would agree. But here’s the reality: the major J/70 championships are now divided into ‘Open’ and ‘Corinthian’ divisions. (i.e. professional and amateur). There is even a ‘One Pro’ sub-classification, presumably for owners on limited budgets who don’t think they can sail well enough to compete with the hot-shots.

Jump in the thread to discuss

– anarchist David

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Marie Tabarly at the helm of Pen Duick VI OGR 2023 Flyer Class Entry. Pen Duick VI FR (14) was first in McIntyre Ocean Globe Fleet to round the infamous Cape Horn at 04:51 UTC February 6th, in ‘perfect’ Southern Ocean winds. Photo Credit: Martin Keruzoré

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It seems that circumstances conspired this morning to throw a spanner in the works of the Martinique Cata Raid’s well-oiled organisers. As soon as the competitors were on the water, the start procedure was delayed. The cause was the heavy conditions outside the bay, which made anchoring the markers tricky.

With the fleet dismasting and returning to the club, the series has only just begun on a day full of pitfalls. A torn mainsail, a blown genoa sheet and a blown spinnaker pole for three of the race’s main protagonists… It’s clear that Tuesday will have given everyone a hard time! Read more.

Photo Pierrick Contin.

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Charles Caudrelier, leader of the ARKEA ULTIM CHALLENGE-Brest, is passing the NE corner of the Kerguelen Islands exclusion zone, racing on a SE’ly course at around 35kts as he plunges towards the ice exclusion zone. The skipper of Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is expected to pass Cape Leeuwin on Wednesday and Tasmania, gateway to the Pacific on Thursday or Friday. More here.

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Readers — We made a mistake. (Or rather, I did.) In the December 2023 ‘Lectronic “Can Cruisers Anchor in the Port of Los Angeles?,” I mistakenly referred to both the ports of Long Beach and L.A. simply as “the Port of Los Angeles.”

“You tried to answer a question and made everything far muddier,” said one reader, who understandably assumed that we didn’t know that there were two distinct and separately governed ports within the same massive breakwater in the heart of the Los Angeles coast. We did speak with the City of Long Beach’s marine bureau manager, and the information they gave us is accurate. (We’ll add a bit of info about Long Beach later in this story.)

But in addition to using poor/incorrect wording to describe the individual ports, we … sorry, I … failed to contact the Port of Los Angeles to complete our original query: Can cruisers drop the hook in the Port of L.A.? We are happy to report that the answer is yes, temporary anchoring is allowed inside the port.

The Port of Los Angeles

A spokesperson for the Port of Los Angeles shared two links with us. The first “boaters” link describes the launch ramp, public landings, and recreational courtesy docks within the Port of L.A., as well as links to the 15 marinas within the Port. The “Mariners Guide” link is nearly 90 pages of rules, safety information, maps and charts, phone numbers for maritime services, etc.

Regarding anchoring, we spoke with the Los Angeles Port Police, who are the primary contact for boaters to obtain a permit to drop the hook in the Port of L.A. “We issue permits for around three days; anything longer than that would have to be discussed with our supervisor,” an L.A. Port Police officer told us, adding that in the event of severe weather, permits would be extended to allow boaters safe haven. “We do a background check and see if the vessel is registered and operable,” the officer added; boats are apparently not required to have insurance in order to anchor in the port.

The officer recommended calling the Port Police’s dispatchers directly at (310) 732-3500 for the quickest response. The background check can take as little as 10 to 15 minutes depending on the availability of officers. There is no fee for a permit; sailors anchoring for just a few hours do not need to obtain a permit.

The anchorage itself lies in the southwest corner inside the breakwater, off Cabrillo Beach and near the Cabrillo launch ramp.

What about dinghy docks? That one’s a bit tricky.

“The closest public dinghy dock is at the [Cabrillo] launch ramp, but that’s only for loading and unloading,” the Port Police officer told us. “If it’s during the week and slow, and if you arrange it with the lifeguards, it might be OK [to leave a dinghy for an extended period]. If it’s on a busy weekend, [the dinghy] could be cited or impounded.”

The “boaters link” above mentions two courtesy docks — at berths 85 and 186, the latter of which is currently closed — but both are deep inside the canal separating the harbor shores of San Pedro from Terminal Island. Berth 85 is an eight-mile drive from the Cabrillo Launch Ramp (to be fair, traffic in L.A. is famously terrible), so it’s probably quite the epic dinghy ride to get there.

The Port of Long Beach

To reiterate from our December story, there is a “nearshore ocean area” in the Port of Long Beach, off Island White; that anchorage is only available on Friday through Sunday, along with moorings for rent.

“We highly recommend consulting an L.A. area chartbook,” a Port of Long Beach spokesperson told us this morning. There is an “‘open permit’ to allow for limited anchorage at Island White in the nearshore ocean area,” the spokesperson said. “The permit does not need to be filled out or submitted to our office. A boater needs simply to follow the rules of the open permit while at Island White. Long Beach Fire Department marine safety personnel patrol the area by boat and advise mariners of the open permit and rules thereof daily.” Click here to see the open permit: Open Permit – Island White 11-1-21

Apologies again, Latitude Nation, for the mistake, and that I’m just now getting around to correcting it. (The holidays always do a number on me.)

Does anyone have sailing stories or photos from the enormous and densely packed megalopolis in which the ports of Long Beach and L.A. lie? Please comment below, or email us here.

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A cool pic lifted from FB. Title inspiration thanks to Iggy Pop.

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There was a distinct crackle of tension in the air as the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia paraded some of the Sydney-Hobart overall handicap-winning hopefuls for the media yesterday.

On the surface, it was all sweetness and light between the five skippers on the panel as they fielded softball questions from the media. In truth, given half a chance, they’d all be secretly loosening each others’ keel bolts before the race start on Tuesday.

But in the interests of diplomacy, goodwill to all men (and they were all men), and respect for the sponsors the participants suppressed their competitive instincts and played nice for the cameras.

Standing in a neat row beneath the obligatory Rolex backdrop were 2022 winner Sam Haynes (Celestial), Max Klink (Swiss skipper of the hot TP52 Caro), Anthony Johnson (owner of the now-veteran RP72 URM Group), Simon Torvaldsen (skipper of the new JPK11.8 Atomic Blonde) and Marc Michel (campaigning the New Zealand Dehler 30 Niksen in the two-handed division).

Nobody was giving much away. Haynes confirmed that Celestial was sporting some new sails and had made modifications to their rig in an effort to improve the boat’s upwind performance. Klink just seemed happy to be having another tilt at Sydney-Hobart honours in a boat that has already won the Fastnet Race this year.

But the topic that now dominates dockside conversation in Sydney – the likely weather offshore next week – was largely set aside. There were the usual platitudes about how plenty of windward work would favour some boats, light downwind stuff might favour others. Indeed.

As ever, no one really knows anything until Boxing Day morning. Even then, tactics will be the usual lottery as the 105-strong fleet heads South. It’s the Hobart, after all.

Pictured above is the R/P 40 Chutzpah, from Carlo Borlenghi.

– anarchist David

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