Two Sailors Lost in Indian Ocean Capsize

Leo Sherman, an educator from Illinois, appears to be the only survivor after a homebuilt 43-ft catamaran capsized 200 miles east of Madagascar early last week. The boat was apparently bound from Durban to Mauritius with three aboard. In addition to Sherman, they were owner Quen Cultra and Joe Strykowski. Cultra had built Queequeg II, a Hugo Myers design, in a barnyard on his family farm in Onarga, Illinois. He was apparently retracing the route of an adventure 40 years before. In the ’60s, he had built a 35-ft cat in the same barn, sailed it down the Mississippi River and eventually around the world. He documented that voyage in a book called Queequeg’s Odyssey.

Cultra spent 12 years building the second Queequeg. He departed Miami in September of 2007. He apparently relied on a revolving crew of friends who flew in to accompany him on various legs of the trip.

Last Monday, Queequeg II ran into heavy weather. Sherman said a wave washed Cultra overboard, and as he was trying to swim back to the boat, a second, larger wave capsized the boat. After setting off the EPIRB, Sherman and Strykowski made their way inside the overturned boat and stayed there for a day and a half. But when it started settling lower in the water, they decided to swim out. Sherman went first, holding onto one end of a rope. When he surfaced, he gave the rope a tug and felt Strykowski tug back. The other man never appeared.

Sherman was found sometime Thursday, more than 48 hours after the capsize, clinging to the overturned cat. He reportedly suffered numerous cuts and bruises, but was not seriously injured. French Navy divers later checked inside the boat, but found no one else aboard.