# Sailor found dead on drifting yacht



## mbianka (Sep 19, 2014)

59-year-old German sailor Manfred Fritz Bajorat was found on his boat sitting at the chart table. Anyone here know him? Sad but, at least he did die on his boat and not in a hospital bed.

Mummified sailor found on abandoned yacht | New York Post


----------



## Lake Superior Sailor (Aug 23, 2011)

Good way to go if you're going! Rest in Peace!.......Dale


----------



## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

In a previous career as an Owl Shift Accelerator Operator, I could on occasion be found in the same position, head nestled on right arm, just resting my eyes, while the Blinkenlights did their thing on the Consoles around me.
Anything important was Alarmed, so I rarely got a chance to... rest my eyes... for more than ten minutes or so at a stretch.
I did vary it a bit, at times I used my left arm for nestling, and sometimes, if it was handy, a telephone directory. I had my own special directory; I tended to drool.

Over at SA they are... well they are doing exactly what could be expected from them.
Unless the Investigation proves contrary, it looks to me like Mr. Bajorat just started resting his eyes, and then never stopped.
These things happen.
R.I.P.

(There was one good idea, um, floated- Put him back in place, find a nice quiet and very deep area, and then sink him, him and his boat together. With some careful consideration, that Ocean Trench could be called "The Bajorat Trench" thereafter.)

¬Erindipity


----------



## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

A fitting suggestion.


----------



## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

Once, at work, I reached in my drawer for a couple of ibuprophen. Unbeknownst to me I grabbed some Benadryl by mistake. I don't react well to Benadryl. When I woke up I went into the rest room to wash my face and found my forehand read QWERTY. 

That story is almost true. Sorta.


----------



## krisscross (Feb 22, 2013)

From the pictures available with this story in the internet, his boat does not look like it was drifting for years on the sea - it is much too clean. Maybe a year at the most. And the body would have to have been glued to the seat and table to survive the tossing of just one storm, especially when just drifting with no sails and no one at the helm. So it looks kind of fishy to me.


----------



## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

krisscross said:


> From the pictures available with this story in the internet, his boat does not look like it was drifting for years on the sea - it is much too clean. Maybe a year at the most. And the body would have to have been glued to the seat and table to survive the tossing of just one storm, especially when just drifting with no sails and no one at the helm. So it looks kind of fishy to me.


Article in the news here today indicates he'd been dead for a week.. Heart attack apparently. 

Mummified German sailor on drifting yacht died of heart attack, autopsy says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


----------



## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Classic30 said:


> Article in the news here today indicates he'd been dead for a week.. Heart attack apparently.


One week?? that's pretty hard to believe unless the photos have been messed with.

It is passing odd that the body stayed put at than angle of heel and presumably tossing about at sea. More to this story (or maybe much less??)


----------



## krisscross (Feb 22, 2013)

A week I can believe. But he does look weird.
A sad way to go, all alone on this big boat.
RIP sailor dude...


----------



## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

aweekmyfecklessass

Check out the condition of the neighboring varnished surfaces.
That takes _years_ of nautical neglect. I should know.

Curiouser and curiouser...

¬Erindipity


----------



## ottos (Aug 12, 2008)

Erindipity said:


> Check out the condition of the neighboring varnished surfaces.
> That takes _years_ of nautical neglect. I should know.


And yet, you're still with us! :wink


----------



## bjung (Apr 8, 2009)

Supposedly, the dismasted "Sayo" had already been sighted in January by "LMAX Exchange" during the Clipper Round the World Race south of Guam, some 1000 nm away. One of the crew went aboard, discovered the body and reported back to the race committee. "LMAX Exchange" was instructed to continue the race and told the appropriate authorities would be notified. 
Deutscher Segler starb an Herzinfarkt*|*YACHT.DE


----------



## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

Here was the January 31st report from the "LMAX Exchange":

"LMAX Exchange had suspended racing this morning after discovering an abandoned yacht. The team, which was in third place at the time, was in contact with the US Coast Guard in Guam and the Race Director who communicated with Falmouth Coast Guard on the matter. No other Clipper Race yachts were involved. All Clipper Race crew are safe and well and the team has now resumed racing. - See more at: Clipper Race Discovered Dead Skipper >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

And the March 1st update:

"UPDATE: In January during the leg from Australia to Vietnam, LMAX Exchange came across a dismasted boat south of Guam (see report). At the time, the Clipper Race was unable to release any further details but it was in fact the German-registered yacht Sayo which was recently discovered off the coast of the Philippines with the sole occupant dead, probably for some considerable time. An LMAX Exchange crew member had boarded the yacht and reported the find which was relayed to the relevant authorities who instructed the team to continue racing while they took over the investigation and traced the next of kin. - See more at: Clipper Race: Deteriorating Conditions >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

"Sayo" drifted ~1000 NM West, dismasted, in one month? I suppose that it's possible, but it would require an average speed of around 1.5 knots on the Pacific North Equatorial Current, which is 2-3X published values:
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/e...-004-88DDD871.jpg.pagespeed.ic.2Au7nBvJat.jpg

¬Erindipity


----------



## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Curiouser and curiouser....


----------



## mbianka (Sep 19, 2014)

A thousand miles in a month? Spooky. But, Ghosts have been know to take the helm from time to time. Usually on boats of single handed sailors. 

Exhibit A: Joshua Slocum: Sailing alone around the World
Exhibit B: Robert Manry: Tinkerbelle

Wonder what condition the mast was in when first spotted by racers in January?


----------



## popeye31 (Sep 18, 2015)

Ive just been looking up how a body mummifies. and salty air and a breeze would do it . but also lack of oxygen can also mummify a body. could he have been motoring with the hatches closed. had an exhaust leek and died of carbon monoxide poisoning and the lack of oxygen in the cabin caused the mummification. just a thought.


----------



## mbianka (Sep 19, 2014)

Here's video from the Racing boat crew that discovered the drifting dead sailors boat. What I found interesting was though the boat was a wreck and looked like it been floating that way for a long time. The cabin hatch that was not entirely closed yet it was still floating despite everything it had been through. 
Video: Round the world sailor finds mummified body on drifting yacht - Telegraph


----------



## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

"As a team we found comfort that he was found and that peace will be given to his friends and family who have been looking for him. Our words and thoughts were shared for the sailor as he now rests in peace."
"Very well put" doesn't do this justice. Very few of us deserve such an epitaph.


"...the experience was quite distressing for the crew member who went aboard, who does not wish to talk publicly about it,..."
I've never come across a dead body. Yet there are seven billion plus of us here now, and we are all going to be found by somebody, eventually. Some are trained for this; most aren't. This crew member is a Hero.

I wish well for the Crew of the "LMAX Exchange". They stopped their Race to help a fellow Sailor possibly in trouble, all for nought but nightmares, and now in third place. Life goes on.

¬Erindipity


----------



## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

Yes LMAX did the right thing. Good on them. Believe such an action is expected by any passing vessel.


----------

