THE... "WIZARD"... IS... LOST!
04 November 2011 | Somewhere ahead of me, off Madagascar
david
"Yesterday, November 3, five crew members from the sailing vessel, "Wizard" were rescued from the waters off the coast of Madagascar. They were picked up from their life-raft by a tanker diverted from the Indian Ocean. All five are in good condition. But, the "Wizard" is lost. I repeat: The..."Wizard"...is...lost."
This was the bulletin from the Mobil Maritime Net located in S Africa this morning. I had first seen this large mono-hull in Cairns and watched as they were preparing to put up a new mast, lost off the east coast of Australia. Then, again, I met them in Mauritius, docked close to me. Once again, pleasant chats, they left before me in high spirits and confident in their vessel. Apparently, they had no time to make a rescue call but did activate their EPIRB-Emergency Positioning Indicator Radio Beacon.
My thoughts go out to jerry and john and the rest of the crew.