# Boat overdue Halifax NS, Canada to Sint Maarten



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

32 foot sailing boat Pirouette solo sailor Roy Sugden left Newfoundland on 22 October and has not arrived in Sint Maarten yet.
The French Coast Guard MRCC issued a Look Out today.

In June this year it took Roy 22 days to go the other way St Maarten to Newfoundland the quicker passage with current behind all the way.

So I am not particularly worried as of now: small boat, some very bad weather crossed his path (but I dont know if it was ahead or behind him). I'd be lucky to do that passage in my much bigger boat in the time given. My time is about 2 weeks out of Beaufort NC so the extra 1,000 nms from Newforundland, I'd be giving him another week at least.

Lets hope he is OK and if he hoves into your port he might need a beer.

Mark


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

Newfoundland departure caught my eye. It's a small island so I wondered if I knew the boat/guy. I don't, but according to this source, he left from Halifax, Nova Scotia, which makes the journey a fair bit easier.








SV Pirouette Arrived St. Martin from Halifax - Boat Watch, International search aid for missing & overdue boats.







boatwatch.org





Also appears that this is his second alert ... perhaps some relative/friend is a bit too jumpy:








Bolo for SV Pirouette St. Maartin to Nova Scotia - Boat Watch, International search aid for missing & overdue boats.







boatwatch.org


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

MikeOReilly said:


> Newfoundland departure caught my eye. It's a small island so I wondered if I knew the boat/guy. I don't, but according to this source, he left from Halifax, Nova Scotia, which makes the journey a fair bit easier.



Oh... so now you expect me to be able to read too... 😨


😂🤣😂

Sorry for that. I edited the thread title.

Yes, it does make it a bit easier. I came out of Sydney Novia Scottia crossing the Atlantic once... didnt like that patch of water. Shallow and grumpy.

I work my Overdue date with a formulea:

Passage at 2 knots plus 2 days to fix a jury rig. (Distances/ time rounded up.) Plus Current

Soooo Halifax to SXM = 1,600 nms / 48 nmpd = 33.3 days, rounded 34 days
add 2 days fixing boat 36 days.
Current: OK, you try working that out LOL but say -5 miles per day = 40 days total.

My overdue date from sailing 22 October + 40 days, Overdue after December 1st

But thats me and my boat. I never, ever give friends/family/coastguard etc my _expected_ passage time. I ever only give my Overdue date.

I do know Roy and have known him many years. He's tough. But so is the sea. 🙏


Mark


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

I think that's a pretty fair approximation of how long that voyage might take. Back in the'70s, after reading "Once is Enough", I'd provision for a 30 day voyage (100 mpd) I'd provision for 90 days. After being out "there" while "Survive the Savage Sea" and "117 Days Adrift" were actually happening, these two stories confirmed my thoughts on the matter.


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## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

We can also hope that perhaps his radio simply isn't working and people are worrying for no reason. Bad weather can add a lot of time to a trip, too, especially in a small boat. Mark's timeline is likely more realistic than an anxious friend's.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

*Roy just sailed in!*!!!!!!!!!! 🏆🍺🏆

A full week ahead of the date I would use as the "overdue date" - December 1st.

Remember: If you are going offshore your family will have _serious_ concerns, health problems, potential heart attacks, stress etc if you are so stupid as to not put in a proper overdue day and they 'jump the gun' and think you're dead.

Then there's also huge public costs of ariel searches, diverting ships to search etc.

So, be serious and realise theres a time you might expect to take for your passage, and, reality.

Last March/April passage from France to the Caribbean was the first Ive done with my current position plotted against a weather chart available for anyone to see (Predict Wind). Marjories mother determined it would take us 24 days and became very angry when it took us 37 days. My Over Due date was, and always had been 50 days. (Even though we were in daily contact via email with them 🙄)

Don't let relatives calculate how long a passage will take you!!


Mark


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

Great news Mark, and nicely along the lines you predicted (a bit faster). And your point is well made about who you tell, and what timeframes you give.

This isn’t quite the same as your cautionary tale, but for many years my partner and I cruised Lake Superior. Our standard summer would begin with a crossing of the Big Lake (usually took us 36 to 42 hrs), then we’d slowly harbour-hop our way back home to Thunder Bay. We had no fixed schedule, but would usually be gone for many weeks to a couple of months. And I mean gone … no contact with anyone.

One season we came back late in September, went home, and found a number of increasingly urgent voicemails on our home phone*, all from the Canadian Coast Guard. The final one asked us to call them if we got this message.

I called, and it turns out our nosey neighbours had sounded the alarm when we didn’t get back in what they perceived was a reasonable time. Luckily, they gave an exceedingly poor description of our boat, and didn’t even have the name right. So the CG never launched a full search. But they were actively looking for us.

Since then, we are always very careful about who we tell, and what time frames we give people.

* We weren’t checking from the boat … cell coverage was nearly non-existent on Superior back in the early 2000s.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Remember about 10 years ago on Sailnet new member joins all excitedly asking what he should take on his first long off-shore race (Across the Gulf of Mexico iirc), he'd never been to sea before etc.
So everyone advises him to take everything known to man and Westmarine... including a Spot Tracker (or similar).
So he turns the tracker on when he gets abord. Family gets signal every hour <ping>; <Ping> ; <ping>

Untill no <Ping>

Family gets worried and calls the coast guard.

The race boat suddenly gets barnstormed by a squadron of F16s at mast height.

The embarrassed new sailor was enjoying the trip so much he threw the tracker in the bottom of his kit bag where it couldn't transmit LOLOL

Mark


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

MikeOReilly said:


> * We weren’t checking from the boat … cell coverage was nearly non-existent on Superior back in the early 2000s.


The whole idea of getting away is to be away... but its increasingly difficult to be away. The last frontier of isolation has gone. Its a pity.


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> The whole idea of getting away is to be away... but its increasingly difficult to be away. The last frontier of isolation has gone. Its a pity.


Tis true. It’s an issue I struggle with. Before sailing and cruising took over my life I used to do a lot of wilderness canoe tripping. We’d be gone for weeks into the Canadian wilds, with ZERO ability to connect with anyone. If anything went wrong, we were on our own. I loved it that way.

Now, we carry an inReach so people can see exactly where we are every 1/2 hr while underway. It’s great for family and friends, but it takes some of the magic and mystery away from the whole endeavour.


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## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

MikeOReilly said:


> Tis true. It’s an issue I struggle with. Before sailing and cruising took over my life I used to do a lot of wilderness canoe tripping. We’d be gone for weeks into the Canadian wilds, with ZERO ability to connect with anyone. If anything went wrong, we were on our own. I loved it that way.
> 
> Now, we carry an inReach so people can see exactly where we are every 1/2 hr while underway. It’s great for family and friends, but it takes some of the magic and mystery away from the whole endeavour.



Just in the last hour the Fort du France CG has started making Mayday relay calls asking folks to keep an eye out for this gentleman. 

At least I THINK it was a "Mayday relay" it was surely about this boat being overdue.


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## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

ROY HAS ARRIVED and appears to be in good spirits from his radio announcement.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Had a chat to Roy. His explanation about why he was slower than "normal" was he ripped his mainsail in a squall while he was below. 
He was already south of the Gulf Stream and thus in warmer water and he saw no reason to turn back into the cold reasoning he was still viable and safe. Which, of course, he was. The reduced boat speed didn't worry him. But a 32 footer going slow is quite slow compared to what others may expect. 

He had a few other gems of wisdom from his many decades of long passages:
In light weather you don't go fast. But also in heavy weather you don't go fast. 
If he had been in trouble he would have triggered his EPIRB. As he didn't he wasn't. Or if the trouble was that bad he couldn't get to his EPIRB there's not much use searching for him! 

Anyway, great to see him and get the story. Such a simple problem that many bump up against. 

Mark


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