ANTIGUA &
BARBUDA SEARCH AND RESCUE
Antigua Yacht Club Marina
Falmouth Harbour
Antigua,
West Indies
E-Mail: absar@candw.ag Visit:
www.absar.org
Tel: (268) 562-1234 VHF: Channel 16
“So
that others may live”
12 May 2007
Press Release concerning Atlantic Rowing Vessel “Puffin”
ABSAR has been monitoring the progress of “Puffin” as it made
it’s way across the Atlantic towards Antigua. Over the past
several weeks he has had several major set backs with the wind
pushing him far north above Antigua & Barbuda. Over the past
week Graham on “Puffin” has made incredible progress southward
to Barbuda. He passed within 4 miles of the north shores of
Barbuda on the night of May 11, 2007. We had warned him of the
dangerous reefs around Barbuda and urged him not to attempt
landfall during the night.
At 0300 local time on the 12th of May local fisherman
Charlie Simon and his crew on the F/V Five B’s departed Jolly
Harbour to locate and escort Puffin to Barbuda. They also had
on board a friend of Graham’s, Tony. At 0536 local an updated
position from the Argos beacon was relayed to F/V Five B’s.
Charlie and his crew proceeded to the last known position to
locate “Puffin”. Their ETA of 1000 local time.
Through the night “Puffin” went past Barbuda by over 20 miles.
We bacame concerned that “Puffin” was still struggling to reach
Barbuda against both wind and current. We had no communications
with “Puffin” and the Argos beacon was not updating his
positions for us to pass to F/V Five B’s. At 0815 local a call
was made to Greg of Caribbean Helicopters to advise him that a
search may become necessary. At 0900 with no word on “Puffin’s”
location, another call was placed to Greg at Caribbean
Helicopters for their assistance. Greg told me he would pick me
up in an hour. At 1000 local Marine Rescue Coordination Centre
Fort de France (MRCC FF) was notified so they could assist with
communications with F/V Five B’s. At 1015 with still no word
from “Puffin” the helicopter took off for “Puffin’s” last known
position. The helicopter arrived on scene at 1045 local time to
begin the search. A drift prediction was calculated using
Applied Sciences SARMAP program. An initial search was made
along his last known direction of travel, then a search was made
in the direction of the drift prediction. Radio contact was
made with F/V Five B’s and they reported no sightings of
“Puffin”. After a 1 hour search on scene the helicopter needed
to return to Antigua for fuel. We learned while enroute to
Antigua, that contact was re-established with “Puffin” and he
was making progress towards St. Marten. Incidentally we would
probably have spotted him from the helicopter if we could have
made one more pass north on our search lines. His Argos
position placed him about 3.5 miles north of our northern most
track line.
At 1255 local MRCC FF was notified that contact had been
re-established with “Puffin” and that he intended to continue to
St. Marten. MRCC FF was further requested to relay to F/V Five
B’s to discontinue the search and could return to Antigua.
1300 local time ABSAR hands off “Puffin” to MRCC FF to monitor
while proceeding to St. Marten.
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