[zeehag]

HAY!!!! WAKE UP!!!!
someone please confirm or deny this what i received jus tnow---
"Morning zee.. I was running late this morning reading thru fb I scene I distress call of fb (coconut telegraph ) about a s/v serenity lost at sea around st. Lucia my phone won't let me paste and copy can u confirm that and maybe get the word out...?? It's been very heavy on my heart and gave me a sinking feeling. ..but I'm at work and phone will not work for me..."
does anyone have information, please. post here or on my page or sksolitarybird page please. this is important .
from coconut telegraph:
"
Kirsty Morrison shared Nicola Shepherd's status update.
4 hrs · Barnes, United Kingdom
https://www.facebook.com/nicola.shepherd.750
My Dad Arthur and my step Mother Sharon have been missing at sea since Saturday.
They were sailing from St Lucia to Barbados, an easy sail and one my Dad has possibly done hundreds of times.
Searches from Barbados, St Lucia and Martinique have been ongoing with no sightings so far. My siblings and I are now appealing for anyone in any surrounding islands with access to boats, light aircraft or helicopters to join in the search. Our hope is that the yacht may be drifting.
We thank you all for any assistance that you may be able to offer."

 

[zeehag]

a young girl with whom i have been chatting occasionally said her momma knows these folks and epirbb was not set off .. hope is that they are ok... please help look out for this boat and the people on board....

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

I understand they have no EPIRB.

Missing since Saturday means what? They left Grenada Friday? Or Saturday was an overdue date? Where in Grenada did they leave? prickly Bay or Carriocou? The millage difference is 160 miles to 115 miles.

Drift rates west ward could have them west of the island chain now.

 

[zeehag]

the originator of the mesaage lives in hong kong, and these are her parents.
i asked her if she has filed missing persons report yet..
answer pending.
keep eyes open and please advise if anything seen or heard.
https://www.facebook.com/nicola.shepherd.750

 

[aa3jy]

Suggest contacting the Maritime Mobile Service Net and the International Boat Watch Net

http://www.mmsn.org

http://www.boatwatchnet.org

 

[zeehag]

UPDATED: Relatives appeal for help from boaters to locate missing Brigg Unicorn ex-captain and wife | St. Lucia News Online

 

[miatapaul]

UPDATED: Relatives appeal for help from boaters to locate missing Brigg Unicorn ex-captain and wife | St. Lucia News Online

Since when is 63 and 59 an "elderly couple?" I guess I don't have as much time left as I thought...

Hope they are alright, seems the guy is having a bit of bad luck, the boat he was captin of sank just last May.

 

[zeehag]

this is a delivery, as i understand it.

elderly?? who sed elderly-- he just a minuet less old than i am.. but then i am older than dirt, but not elderly.... there is a difference

 

[svHyLyte]

Elderly? Sixty-three and 59 are only late middle age.

Hopefully they will be found having sun-downers in some quite cove somewhere quite unaware of the furor surrounding their "disappearance" (which may have been entirely intentional).

 

[miatapaul]

this is a delivery, as i understand it.

elderly?? who sed elderly-- he just a minuet less old than i am.. but then i am older than dirt, but not elderly.... there is a difference

Elderly? Sixty-three and 59 are only late middle age.

Hopefully they will be found having sun-downers in some quite cove somewhere quite unaware of the furor surrounding their "disappearance" (which may have been entirely intentional).

The news article called them an "elderly couple."

I do think it seems a bit premature to worry too much. Sure have locals looking out doe them. I agree they may have ducked into someplace. If it was a delivery I take it that it is not their own boat then.

 

[Lucian_rider]

I live in St. Lucia and know Sam and his wife quite well. I'm a bit concerned that Sam might not have had a GPS aboard as apparently he was trying to borrow one the day before he left and I did not hear if he managed to get one. I do believe he has an iPhone with possibly a navigation app but I can't confirm this.
Also someone who saw him leave with the boat on the Saturday morning did not see a dinghy aboard. I wonder what else as far as safety equipment was not aboard when he set off!

I'm thinking that Sam got a bit complacent with delivering boats to Barbados from St. Lucia which he has done numerous times. Hopefully the two of them are trying to figure out where they are after possibly missing Barbados having sailed past in the night due to poor visibility and lack of a GPS. He would know that after 24 hours or so he would have to turn back West to try and either find Barbados or more likely run downwind hoping to get back to St. Vincent. Due to the number of small Grenadine islands south of St. Vincent it would be difficult to sail through the area without either running aground or seeing something!

Unless he is holed up somewhere, he must either be under sail only due to a mechanical brake down or drifting due to blown out sails/dismasting etc. We certainly hope that the boat is still afloat but if after a week he does not show up somewhere then I think we might have to consider the worst...

 

[zeehag]

UPDATE!!!!!

per family:

"
Tao Alleyne
26 mins ·
THEY'VE BEEN FOUND!!! Dad has just contacted me! Both safe and sound, boat okay too! Thank you to everyone who has been helping in the search!!!!"

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

UPDATE!!!!!

per family:

"
Tao Alleyne
26 mins ·
THEY'VE BEEN FOUND!!! Dad has just contacted me! Both safe and sound, boat okay too! Thank you to everyone who has been helping in the search!!!!"

Hi Zee,

Is that confirmed? As in a very close source?

 

[zeehag]

Found: Alleynes safe in St Lucia

Found: Alleynes safe in St Lucia FOUND: Arthur and Sharon Alleyne.
WED, OCTOBER 29, 2014 - 1:06 PM

THE BARBADIANS who were missing at sea have been found.

An emotional Arianne Moore called the NATION minutes ago to report she had just spoken to her father Arthur Alleyne, who told her that he and his wife Sharon Went-Alleyne were "on land" in Soufriere, St Lucia.

"I don't know the whole story... He just said that the mass is all ripped up, the sails are shredded, the engines gone, but they are alive.

"He just said 'We are alive. Your father is not going to die like that, girl'."

Moore said she had no other details, but her father promised to call her back as soon as he had his phone charged."

The couple, who live in St Lucia, left there Saturday for a routine sail to Barbados, but went missing, and attempts by marine authorities in Martinique, St Lucia and Barbados were unsuccessful.

The children had appealed for anyone in the surrounding islands with access to boats, light aircraft or helicopters to join in the search as the yacht might have been drifting. (GC)

original source of my short post was the children of the couple. i found this after i was sent the first.....
and source---

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

Thanks, Zee!

Great news!!

BBC News - Missing Caribbean yacht couple found, daughter confirms

 

[ianjoub]

Glad to hear all is well.

 

[miatapaul]

So what is the appropriate amount of time to wait before starting a full blown search?

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

So what is the appropriate amount of time to wait before starting a full blown search?

For passages I give my family an overdue date. Thats the passage length at 2 knots plus 1 day. (The one day is stuff around time making a jury rig). So for example if I am doing a 1,000 miler, down wind I will average 6 knots = 7 days, but my Overdue Date will be 1,000 at 2 knots + 1 = 22 days.

Its also ensures I buy enough provisions for at least 30 days.

If I am still alive anyway, I would have used the EPIRB if I had needed it. But if someone sends the resupcue mobs out they try and drag you off your boat... Which means I lose a perfectly good boat!

Mark

 

[svHyLyte]

For passages I give my family an overdue date. Thats the passage length at 2 knots plus 1 day. (The one day is stuff around time making a jury rig). So for example if I am doing a 1,000 miler, down wind I will average 6 knots = 7 days, but my Overdue Date will be 1,000 at 2 knots + 1 = 22 days.

Its also ensures I buy enough provisions for at least 30 days.

If I am still alive anyway, I would have used the EPIRB if I had needed it. But if someone sends the resupcue mobs out they try and drag you off your boat... Which means I lose a perfectly good boat!

Mark

One of the problems with "always in Touch" cruising is the extent to which shore-side friends and family become distressed when they don't hear from their loved-ones for a few days or more. Too often the distressed family members have set off needless searches while their unknowing traveling family members are enjoying sun-downers in an out of the way rest stop.

We give friends and family a "float plan" and while cruising point-to-point often keep a SPOT locator in tracking mode. Often, however, we simply send "I'm okay" messages every few days and before leaving tell everyone: "IF you haven't heard from us for ___ days/weeks worry. Otherwise, not!".

FWIW...

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

Spot type communicators are great, but a few years ago on this or another forum, a guy on his first delivery accidentally turned his off so it didnt send the location every two hours.... So the coast guard was sent out in a panic.

So is a I hear nothing better than if I need help I will EPIRB? Difficult decisions.