While Rich is having a hard time….lets see what his peer Ian has been up to….This is probably not a blog for a mother to read….Ian Lipinski was dismasted on the first night of the Mini Transat. After activating his emergency beacon, he was recovered by the Mazouri, a cargo bound for Sfax, Tunisia, via Gibraltar. Ian is doing well and is safely on board but had to abandon his boat Pas de Futur sans Numérique, No. 539. Two days after the incident, here is his story:
It all over for 539, which I have had to abandon… I had three reefs in the main and a reefed solent overnight. The sea was rough but nothing more. I had a first warning last night hurtling down a steeper than usual wave. Result, I broached violently. All the gear was swept down the back, I found myself against the crash box! The boat dropped vertically and fell to the side. I release the tiller and drop into the water to leeward against the lifelines … I’m OK again.
But late that night, after a ten-minute nap, I went to open the door to go outside, I felt the boat take off on a very fast surf. I just had time to stand firmly at the opening of the door, a second no more, when the boat was on its roof. The water instantly flooded the entire interior. I had perhaps 50 centimeters of air space left. Everything inside is floating and slopping around. It is all black … and the boat is upside down, like an inverted umbrella! I did not really panick, but told myself very quickly that the situation was not terrible. No VHF, no reasonable opportunity to escape, no power inside the boat … and still its not coming upright. I think that the water is cold and I will not be able to last in it very long. I soon realise that I cannot get out of this on my own and in five minutes I’ve decided to activate the EPIRB. I need a little time to find it because after this rodeo ride and in the dark I’ve lost my bearings a bit in the boat! Then I put on the TPS suit and that warms me up. I think I have been upside down for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Finally, the boat rights itself. I can get to the portable VHF in the safety box and manage to call "Cocoche" (Eric Cochet), 832. I hear that he re transmits my status to the escort boat, which offers to turn around and sail upwind to come to my aid. I say its not realistic and asked him to continue his journey because he can do nothing for me. I then trigger the the race tracker into distress mode. I set off a flare and send out a mayday on channel 16. It’s still dark and I do not feel able to go out on the deck to release the rig, because I do not feel that assured on the boat in the TPS. The rig hull hits a bit but its OK more or less. The sun rises and I see a cargo ship passing because I’m not far from the axis of the DST. I set off a new flare … No reaction from the cargo boat.
I can not seem to reach anyone on the portable VHF. I am looking for my passport stored in a workbook with a little money. I find it and slip it into my dry suit along with Panda, my soft toy I had taken on board for the first time! Coco, my second mascot, can not be found, but I keep myself busy looking for him… I try to empty the boat using a bucket. It’s a mess and although I manage to lower the level a little, it quickly comes back in. I don’t really feel in danger and I know that help is now triggered. Anyway, I don’t feel I can go on on my own. The boat is destroyed and full of water, the electronics are all out, the steering broken …
Then a ship arrives. I help them to locate me with a flare. He begins his maneuver but he’s a little slow. His transom is towards me. I think I’ll pass under the stern, which rises and falls with the waves 4 meters. Finally a huge crash at it comes down on poor 539, but thankfully I’m not crushed. The hull of Kalonig slides to leeward of the cargo ship and the crew throw me down mooring ropes which I secure on the winches. I’ll have to climb the rope ladder that the crew lower against the hull of the ship. It goes up; it goes down: you have find the precise moment to jump on the rope at the top of the wave. Please do not fall into the water. At the third attempt I managed to climb the rope ladder and 5 seconds later I’m on the deck of the ship. Time to watch my mini drift away in the wake …
The captain is wonderful and very caring with me. I have a deluxe cabin and I’ll pass the Strait of Gibraltar for the first time in my life! I haven’t yet had much time to think, I slept and ate. I will get my revenge next time. I do not really think I made a mistake, other than to have not taken shelter in the lee of the coast … But then, I would not have been racing …
We are off to Sfax, Tunisia. We should arrive Tuesda
Source www.minitransat.fr
