Another Pterodactyl Sighting

Earlier this month, we reported in ‘Lectronic Latitude that a Navy ship had come across the Olson 40 Pterodactyl, which you may remember had to be abandoned during the March 29 Doublehanded Farallones Race. No position was given for the encounter with the Navy ship — only that the boat, with tattered sails, had been spotted during the warship’s return from Japan.

Pterodactyl was in rough weather on the way back from the Farallones when, about five miles from the island, a freak wave dumped owner Luc de Faymoreau and crewman Disun Den Daas out of the boat. Although rescued quickly by another boat, they were unable to reboard the Olson due to the rough sea state.

Then, this last weekend, we got details of another sighting. This one occurred two weeks earlier than the Navy sighting, but you’ll understand the delay in our receiving the information in a minute.

At 0200 on May 13, some 900 miles southwest of the Golden Gate, the bulk carrier MV Namrun nearly ran down an unlighted sailboat with tattered sails. Captain Melih Akgul returned to stand by the boat while they reported the encounter to Coast Guard Honolulu. At daybreak, they were able to read off the name and homeport: Pterodactyl, Moss Landing. By request of the Coasties, Captain Akgul sent a boarding party over to see if anyone was aboard. Finding no one, and again as requested, they gathered a few personal items. With no way to recover or tow the sailboat, the 30,000-ton bulk carrier left her adrift and resumed her run from Xiamen, China, to Houston. Upon arrival, Captain Akgul turned over the personal items from Pterodactyl (cellphones, laptops and IDs) to the Coast Guard. 

At no point in all this did the Coast Guard ever tell him the story of what had happened to the boat, or that the crew were okay. Himself a sailor — Captain Akgul sails a 31-ft sloop out of his homeport of Istanbul — he says he worried about what had happened to the people on Pterodactyl the whole rest of the trip. So while waiting for a flight home at the airport, he pulled out his laptop and Googled the boat name and hailing port.

“And I found your web page about the incident,” he wrote. “I was relieved that the crew were saved.”

And that’s when he wrote to us.