Everything ok on SY GALEB

I first met Wolfgang (44) on the well kown boat show BOOT in Düsseldorf 2008. "Hey, you know something about PACTOR, don't you?" he addressed me. After one hour, I had answered all his questions about email and weatherfax up to the GRIB files. Wolfgang was now the lucky owner of a PTC-IIusb. I wasn't as happy, because he wanted to run his system with an IC 7000. "Wolfgang," I said, "the IC 7000 is new on the market and probably very sensitive. An established radio, like the 706MKIIG would be much better for you and your purpose." But Wolfgang already had made his decision.

Until last week, I haven't heard anything from Wolfgang. Sitting in our kitchen Nathalie, my partner, says "You should be glad, usually clients, who don't call, are happy clients", as I tell her the story about the sailing family of five. Just a minute later, I get a call from Wolfgang, and the story he has to tell, is not about problems with PACTOR.

The SY GALEB had lost her mast in the Atlantic Ocean. The night before they had encountered wind up to 50 knots from eastern. Nothing really bad, but very uncomfortable. "Micha, the waves were short, steep and absolutely nasty. Every once in a while breakers were entering the boat from the side and the stern. Even through the engine room ventilation into the boat" Wolfgang told me. "Then the auto pilot broke down, confusing error messages on the terminal. The whole night I had to stay at the rudder. I sent my family down into the cabin to sleep." After this exhausting night and a short sleep, Wolfgang had been able to repair the autopilot. The wind finally had dropped a little. Easily he could identify the collector brushes as the reason for the error. He had to extend the springs and sand off the corrosion of the coals to get the system running again. "The most straining part of the job was to work upside-down in the depths of the boat. Autopilots are usually situated in the most impractical places of the ship." "Yes, I can tell you something abut this story!" I confirmed Wolfgangs conclusion.

Without mast you can also sail. At least with the wind from the back.

"The following day, it happened. As usual after a storm, the wind dropped, but the waves and the swell were still very high and steep. And suddenly the mast tumbled down. It hit the rail, we heard a short crash and BANG!"  I don't feel like laughing any more. One can tell, that Wolfgang is still able to see the situation in front of his inner eye, even when he pretends to be calm. 

"We had maybe still 25-30 knots of wind and a two meter wave. Weakness of the material. Stainless steel. A toggle that fixed the stay to the mast. "Well, Wolfgang, that sounds just like bad luck." "Bad luck? Micha, this season there have been 5 yachts, which pulled into the harbour of Horta without mast. And on each and every yacht the mast just tumbled down." I am shocked. " First of all, of course, I feared for my family. The mast was still attached to the boat. Quickly, I loosened the rest off the rigging, because it could damage the boat and hit a hole in the hull of GALEB. Then the mast sank into the depths of the North Atlantic. 5000 metres deep.

Surf Board Rig as an Trade Wind Sail.

"The only emergency sail we had, was the sail of our surf board. So we hoisted the sail on the bow." "And how did you manage to arrive in Horta?" " Well, with our 150 litres of diesel, we definitely couldn't manage to make all the way to the Azores. We still had 900 miles to the port of Horta." "That really is a story, I hope nothing happened to your family." "No, captain and crew were fine, the storm was over and after 50 knots of wind during the night, 30 knots almost seem like  a calm."

"Finally the wind turned to east. We couldn't make our way with the surf sail any more. So we heaved to and the following one and a half days, we drifted back towards America! The atmosphere on board was accordingly."

I asked him, if he had activated the SAR (Search and rescue) organisations. "Michael, we didn't have a satellite telephone on board. And what for? Also we didn't activate the EPIRP, because we weren't in a life-threatening situation. And we didn't sink. So in the end, we contacted the MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Center) in Norfolk through email via SSB with the help of the SCS PACTOR modem, that you sold me on the boat show in January 2008. There wouldn't have been any chance to get that far with voice radio. Especially  because we had lost our antenna in the accident."  "This is, of course, something we love to hear, but please give us some more details." "Well" Wolfgang takes a deep breath. "Norfolk organized the whole rescue, or let's say help for our boat and crew. The whole communication was accomplished via email with the WINLINK system. It was running reliably at all times and I am so happy that we've had this easy, uncomplicated tool on board.

Also in time of distress, the sunset can be romantic.

On the website of SY GALEB, www.himbeerblau.de, it is possible to follow the records of the dramatic story. Wolfgang is a US HAM, too. Under the call sign AF6IO he has mainly been in contact with the Seepilot Christof Schütze. On his website, www.seelotse.com, you will find some more interesting details from 12.05.09 on.

Wolfgang goes on with his story. "You can't really talk about our rescue. Nobody would have been able to put up a new rigging in the middle of the Atlantic, and probably we would have reached the other side of the ocean with the surf sail too, but it would have taken weeks. What we really needed, where some jerry cans of diesel. A gasoline station would have helped a lot" Wolfgang laughed. But with the help of the American Rescue Centre, we could make a contact to the Greek freighter ALPHA ERA under Maltese Flag and arrange a date out on the open sea. Thanks to GPS, no big deal. Also this communication has been carried out through PACTOR. The weather was fine, the waves tolerable: When we encountered the huge ship in the middle of the Atlantic, I tried to keep GALEB in a safe distance in lee of the unfriendly ship's side.

Carefully the SY GALEB comes closer to the helpfully freighter.

The seamen threw the heaving line on our boat, fixed to it we found a thinner rope, that we could use as a rope way. My son and wife were standing on the foredeck, receiving one jerry can of precious diesel fuel after the other, that the Greeks were handing down along the leading line. This way, we received 20 x 25 liters of fuel.

Diesel Lift

"You couldn't really call it diesel, this filthy and murky stuff. The first jerry cans I filled in at night, without seeing the quality of the fuel. The rest I filtered really carefully. "

The help propellant is on board

"And, how did you pay? With the credit card, or was PACTOR of any help here, too?" I asked.

Wolfang laughed. "Present of the ALPHA ERA for our family!"

"After this terrific operation we could run our engine and to get on with our journey to Horta. We arrived on the 26.05.2009 and were welcomed duly." We all arrived happy, safe and healthy."

Arrival at Horta / Azores

"And how were your experiences during your whole trip, that you undertook with your family, wife and three sons. The crossing of the Atlantic from east to west, your time in the Caribbean and the trip back across the Northern Atlantic? Was it worth the journey? Wasn't the time a bit short for all these miles?"

"We had a lot of fun and our children (4/11/15) enjoyed our gap year. They had taken all their schooling material from their school back in Germany. Self dependend they learned with the help of the books. The teachers supported our trip and our homepage www.himbeerblau.de was part of the daily routine of the class mates and friends back home."

The real heroes of the SY GALEB which allowed Papas dreams to become true.

From the technical side, we didn't have much damage except our mast. The ICOM 7000 had to be repaired two times. Unfortunately it can't handle the excess voltage above 13.8 Volt. Loading the batteries under motor, the voltage often goes far beyond this point, depending on the alternator up to 14.6 Volt. Not until I ran the radio with an external battery, that I disconnected when running the engine, I could solve the problem. But that was it, no other damage.

After our return to Germany we are freezing a lot, and to be honest, we would love to set sail again at once. We havn't regretted one single day, but the daily routine of work is calling. For us, it was a sabbatical year, but now, at first, I have to dig in for another 7 years!"

Michael Wnuk, DL1JD/KD7SVU, within conservation to Wolfgang Merz, December 2009, South Africa