Cool Change Salvage

At 02.00 hours on the 10th March Island Fling received a faint distress call on Channel 16 requesting help from any nearby Vasco Da Gama rally members. We quickly moved to HF 8188 to hear the bad news. Fortunately for Peter of Cool Change (Vancouver), Island Fling and Hinewai were within distance at 35 nautical miles away. This was just the beginning of a very long 8 hours of chase to locate Cool Change and Peter safely. The winds were gusting up to 35-40 knots in places from the South East creating huge bumpy seas. We increased our speed to the maximum 8 -9 knots on our catamaran which at times was a little hairy to say the least in the mountainous seas.

Peter is a solo sailor within the rally group and unfortunately had gone to sleep at the helm smashing head on into one of three large islands in the Muhabbaka group. The damaged sustained was evident immediately for Peter. The bowsprit was smashed causing a lot of damage to the forestay and any further use of the roller furling – the result a shredded jib. There was the possibility of loosing the mast at this stage. There were holes in the hull taking in water as fast as Peter could bail it out. Thankfully the bilge pump was still operational and helped in keeping the yacht afloat.

With the help of Hinewai we frantically searched the Red Sea Pilot for an appropriate anchorage that Cool Change could hopefully reach and decided on Dannabah Island some 30 nm away. Throughout the rescue we maintained constant contact on HF Radio every 15 minutes. There were times when we thought we had lost him as there were lengthy periods before we would get a response from Peter only to hear that he was frantically bailing water while rolling around in the heavy seas. Naturally with the winds blowing 35 knots from the SE both Cool Change and our positions were changing constantly and there were times when we thought we would never converge in one place to render the necessary assistance. Finally in the first light of day we caught our first sighting of Cool Change bobbing around on the sea like a cork. What a welcome sight that was, but there was still some way to go to get him and Cool Change safely ashore.

The seas were still rolling when we reached Cool Change which then posed a new problem. Peter’s engine had died and he had put his anchor down only to discover that it couldn’t be hauled in due to damage in the windlass and the tension of the anchor in high rolling seas. We tackled this problem for about an hour when Peter decided to cut the chain. In his exhausted state Peter wanted to sink the boat there and then. Naturally, for us this wasn’t an option as we had come this far not to lose the boat. Capt Bob convinced Peter that we would tow him to the bay and beach the yacht along with us on the catamaran. We were so pleased to not see jagged rocks or coral outcrops in the anchorage and had a good run straight onto the sand. We were safe at last and with the help of local native lads to assist in the final heave ho by rope Cool Change was on the sand. With sleep deprivation and weary bodies we put Peter on board for a well earned sleep to renew his energy for the salvage operation early the next morning.

During the afternoon Mistral, Maily’s and several other Dutch yachts not in the rally arrived to assist in the salvage operation. Epoxy resin putty was used with a tag team running backwards and forwards to fill holes, tools, ropes, manpower and even yelling were all forthcoming and it was overwhelming for Peter to have such camaraderie amongst his fellow yachties. Many hands make light work and after much heaving and pulling it was necessary for us to tow Cool Change off the sand and also float ourselves otherwise the tides would have been against us both for the next few weeks. With two ropes and speed we affected the salvage of Cool Change and she was floating again. For Peter, it was the beginning of many long hours of cleaning up his boat. Sadly, we escorted Cool Change on the last leg of the journey along with Hinewai into Mersa Dudo where SY Scharrel escorted him slowly to Massawa for the major repairs required.

All members of the Vasco Da Gama rally wish Peter and Cool Change good sailing in the future and may we see you soon on the seas once the repairs are completed. Good luck from us all on the Rally.