Oh Crap I am so worried….
We left Florida Friday to sail back to Great Sail Cay in the Bahamas and Monkey was following us in his boat for the crossing. We knew he could not keep up with WildChild and that eventually he would fall behind but Monkey said he would just meet us in Great Sail Cay a little after we arrived, a few hours behind us.
We have been here 2 days now and there is no sign of him…. He has not made any contact either… He has not texted me that he is ok on the Satellite phone….
I am so freakin Worried… I think Monkey is lost at Sea… !!! and I am NOT kidding…!
So we know that he did not complete the crossing…
IF… he had washed back up on shore in Florida (and was alive) he would have texted me on the Sat phone…. and he did not do that….
So it is unlikely he washed up on a beach in Florida again…
It is likely that he is either still out at sea with a disabled vessel (broke his steering) and is drifting helplessly north out into the North Atlantic unable to call for help because his VHF is crappy and only reaches about 10 miles….
OR….
It is quite likely he either fell out of the boat… flipped the boat… sunk the boat… or is right now floating out there waiting to die… or dead already….
The Ocean is serious business and if you think the Ocean cannot kill you… you are seriously mistaken.
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So here are the details…
WildChild crossed over to Florida to pick up our stuff from Monkey and give him his stuff last week. We met him in the boat yard where he was trying to get his damaged rudder post straightened out and re-installed. It got bent during his last rescue being pulled off the beach.
He had to cut away 10 inches of the fiberglass around the steering post so the shop could bend the post back to shape. He chose to not fix the fiberglass properly when he put the rudder back in.
We helped him as much as we could when we were there with him in the yard a few days ago. I gave him a hundred bucks and we gave him a fair amount of food and provisions.
I gave him our EPIRB… we had a small PLB onboard WildChild which is a $600 emergency safety beacon that can be activated from anywhere on earth and will satellite link your distress call to Search and Rescue. As much this is a vital piece of safety gear on every vessel and WildChild needs this gear too… I felt like Monkey was more likely to actually NEED it in the future. I want him to be safe despite his own terrible decision making.
We helped him make a (Meh…) half assed repair to his rudder in the hour before he launched SummerTime.
Once Monkey got his vessel floating he motored it around the corner to raft up with WildChild and transfer gear and finish making his repairs.
Monkey informed me that he was going to cross back to the Bahamas with us… he wanted to buddy boat with us. He was single mindedly determined (despite all reality logic or reason against this idea) to make the crossing Friday April 26th with us.
I tried to talk him out of it… I strongly advised him not to do this… His vessel was not ready… Even I (A fabulous Skilled Captain) would not do it in his boat in its current condition. It was WAAAYYY TOOO DANGEROUS…!! But at the end of the day what right do I have to tell another captain what to do with his own vessel…. NONE!
Monkey listened to me and clearly stated he is crossing anyway.
I tried again the next day to dissuade him… to no avail. He was determined and not going to listen. He said he was going to cross or die trying…. and he did not cross….
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His steering wheel on his boat was no longer connected to his rudder steering quadrant. Damaged in the haul off the beach and he chose not to fix it. So this means he is steering his boat with the emergency steering tiller. There is no mechanical force multiplier doing it this way… no gear reducers to mechanically give the helmsman enough force to control and move the steering tiller. The full force of the ocean waves on the big rudder gets completely transferred to the person holding the stick.
I kind of view this as crazy to try and steer like this across the 2 meter waves in the gulf stream. I just think it will be impossible…. but Monkey would not listen… the man said… nah… it’ll be fine.
So with the emergency tiller between his legs Monkey turned on his motor and followed us out to sea.
He left Fort Pierce channel with us Friday Morning at 9am. He seemed to be doing well controlling his vessel in the calmer waters.
He followed us south down the Florida coast Friday morning and into the afternoon.
We slowed WildChild down as much as we could for him… but by around noon he had fallen out of sight behind us…
We kept in touch by VHF radio for a while and he reported all was well…. he was sailing Genny only and had locked his steering tiller with ropes. He was steering with his Genny.
Eventually we got about 10 miles ahead of him and lost radio communications…. so he was texting us with his cell phone to our Sat phone… All reports he was doing well and had it figured out…
We gave him as much course and bearing information and wave condition information as we could…
WildChild made her turn East at 3pm just south of the St. Lucie inlet…. we hit the gulf stream about an hour later and the winds got kind of sporty out there by 5pm we were in 20 knots of sustained wind and 2 meter waves. It was smashy sporty with swell against waves against current but the winds were broad reach and we were running along well.
Monkey’s last text to me was at around 4pm Friday April 26th … he said he was making his turn to the east and would meet us in Great Sail Cay.
That’s it…
It is now Monday April 29th and we are still waiting for him in Great Sail Cay.
He has not arrived…. He has not texted the Sat phone… There has been no contact from him.
We have no idea where he is or what happened to him.
I pray he is washed up on the beach in the USA somewhere and alive…
I pray maybe the coast guard has rescued him and he is maybe with them….
I pray he is not still out there….
I pray he is not floating out in the Ocean right now in a life jacket waiting to die…
If anybody gets any word from him please let me know he is still alive…
Captain Lexi…
The very worried….