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Family Rescued from Sinking ARC Boat

Leaving behind the sinking Noah, her crew drifts away.

© Dr. Bramley Murton / National Oceanography Centre

Four family members and their one crew were successfully rescued last weekend from the BH39 Noah in the Atlantic Ocean while participating in the 2,750-mile Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia.

Noah is a one-off aluminum Berckemeyer design. She began taking on large amounts of water three days after the start of the ARC while about 340 miles west of Grand Canaria.

Noah, a BM39E, was sailing in the Cruising Division of the ARC. The family has a German-language blog for her at www.sy-noah.de.

Noah
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The Alexander and Alexandra Grefrath family, including their 10- and 12-year-old sons, and their crew Jörg Zeibig, all from Germany, were taken onto the Royal Research Ship James Cook following a Mayday call. The rescue was effected by the Noah crew getting into the boat’s liferaft and drifting down to the James Cook.

The rescued sailors, safe aboard the James Cook.

© Dr. Bramley Murton / National Oceanography Centre

Noah issued the Mayday at 1409, as the skipper reported the boat’s manual and electric pumps were unable to keep up with the amount of water coming in from a source the crew were unable to determine. Thanks to coordination by Marine Rescue Coordination Center in Tenerife, the entire crew was picked up safely less than three hours later.

The distress call had also been received by fellow ARC yachts Ocean Dream, White Satin, and Step by Step 2, which were coming to assist. Once the James Cook took over, the ARC vessels were released to continue their passage across the ocean.

PHOTO

Noah was being tracked by the YB3 satellite tracker, but has almost certainly gone to the bottom by now.

The loss of Noah is similar to what happened in last year’s ARC, when the British yacht Magritte had to be abandoned because the crew couldn’t find or stop a significant leak.

Not that it would have necessarily helped in the case of Noah or Magritte, it’s always a great idea to have a posted diagram handy showing the location of all of  the vessel’s thru-hulls. In a crisis situation, it’s hard to remember the location of all of them. It’s also important to check that all seacocks are in working order prior to leaving on a voyage.

As has been the case for more than a quarter of a century, there are more than 200 yachts participating in this year’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.

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