# s/v Seaquel Rescue.



## svzephyr44 (Jun 26, 2000)

Talked to Bill (KI4MMZ) this morning. He took a Mayday call from the s/v Seaquel (Andy and Sandy) last night. They were heading from Antigua to Florida. Ninety (90) miles off Puerto Rico the stuffing box failed and the boat started to flood. Communications were bad so Bill woke up Fred (W3ZU) who was better able to establish communications until apparently Andy passed out. They (Bill and Fred) contacted the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard (we presume) used AMVER and dispatched the Disney Fantasy to assist.The Fantasy reported 45 knot winds and was apparently able to locate the Seaquel. Bill reported that Andy was hurt with a head injury and had passed out. The USCG used the down "vertical elevator" to put a medic on board. The plan is to sail the boat to Puerto Rico unless Andy gets worse in which case they will medevac him off the boat.

A couple of notes:

Apparently Sandy did not know how to run the SSB radio. It never ceases to amaze me that couples go offshore cruising and one partner has no idea how to get help in an emergency. There are numerous cases of people dying as their partner stood by not knowing how to run the radio. In fairness to Sandy I don't know if that was the case here but it sure sounds like it.

The tradition of mutual assistance at sea is very old. As a sailor and retired Navy Captain I know that many times one is out of range of any aviation assets that can actually get one off the boat. It's the other ships that are going to come to the rescue. Based on the future sailing schedules we can guess that Fantasy was in transit from somewhere in the Caribbean to Castaway Key in the Bahamas. We can also assume that any time lost can not be made up, there are future sailings out of Port Canaveral that have to be met. So bets are that they will have to pass up Castaway Key and head directly to Canaveral. With a maximum of 4,000 passengers on board I bet that there are more than a few who are livid with rage that they have been inconvenienced.

Fair winds and following seas


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Or the cruise ship passengers may have been totally excited by their rescue mission.

A bit of real life adventure on Disneys Fantasy! I'll bet Mickey and Goofey were manning the lifeboats!


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## aa3jy (Jul 23, 2006)

I assume the Maritime Mobile Net 14.300 MHz and the Waterway Radio and Cruising Net 7.268 MHz have them on their watch list as well?


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## svzephyr44 (Jun 26, 2000)

I don't know. Both Bill and Fred are MMSN regulars. But it is actually all over. The Coast Guard has the boat, the Fantasy has continued its journey (see DISNEY FANTASY - Passengers Ship: current position and details | IMO 9445590, MMSI 311058700, Callsign C6ZL6 | Registered in Bahamas - AIS Marine Traffic

There is really nothing more for the radio nets to do.


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## btrayfors (Aug 25, 2006)

Update 8:50PM Thursday. Sally, not Sandy, is a General Class licensee (KA3RUJ) and a friend. Andy, her husband and captain, is also a licensed General Class amateur (KC4VOA). They both DO know how to operate the SSB and have done so throughout their Caribbean cruise.

Confirmed via telephone call with Sally: *Andy's injuries turned out to be "not serious".* Thank heavens for that!

The boat, at this moment is enroute to Puerto Rico's west coast...probably Mayaguez. They're in the Mona Passage just off of Ricon and proceeding at 6-7 knots, and have a couple of hours or so to go.

They were, by the way, enroute from San Juan Bay Marina, Puerto Rico to Sand Cay in the Turks and Caicos islands, on their way back to the U.S. after a long cruise in the Eastern Caribbean.

They are both members of the Capital Yacht Club in Washington, DC. We are monitoring their progress closely.

Bill
WA6CCA


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## aa3jy (Jul 23, 2006)

Thanks for the update Bill.

Clay AA3JY
S/V Tango
Chester River, Md.


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## svzephyr44 (Jun 26, 2000)

btrayfors said:


> Update 8:50PM Thursday. Sally, not Sandy, is a General Class licensee (KA3RUJ) and a friend. Andy, her husband and captain, is also a licensed General Class amateur (KC4VOA). They both DO know how to operate the SSB and have done so throughout their Caribbean cruise.
> Bill
> WA6CCA


Good to know. I know that comms were terrible. Not surprising the name got transcribed incorrectly. Glad to hear they are underway and Andy is doing well.

Fair winds and following seas


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## btrayfors (Aug 25, 2006)

Seaquel bypassed Mayaguez last nite and continued to Boqueron where they anchored just after 2AM.

Don't know the full story yet, but no doubt it will come out in a day or two. 

Bill


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## svzephyr44 (Jun 26, 2000)

btrayfors said:


> Seaquel bypassed Mayaguez last nite and continued to Boqueron where they anchored just after 2AM.
> 
> Don't know the full story yet, but no doubt it will come out in a day or two.
> 
> Bill


Looking forward to hearing it.* Please tell Sally I apologize for lumping her in with the incompetent.*

Interesting aside. I spent some time on Marine Traffic: Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions - AIS Marine Traffic and you can see where they met the Fantasy and also where they are tucked in safely in Boqueron.

Fair winds and following seas


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## btrayfors (Aug 25, 2006)

Following is from Sally aboard Seaquel, anchored this morning off Boqueron PR. It explains the emergency and the head injury, as well as the trip to PR afterwards.

_Dear Friends,
The short version is that we are fine,the boat is good and we are sitting in Boqueron PR at anchor waiting for the mechanic!
Thank you all for your concern yesterday! We know this is a small world when so many of you heard about our problem. So here is the long version...

On Wednesday at 0600 we left the anchorage at San Juan for the Turks and Caicos. The distance is 360 miles. For us averaging 5.5 knots it would be a 60 hour trip...a two nighter! We were making great time averaging over 6 knots when I noticed that the bilge pump was on. It was 3 AM (naturally) and we were 120 miles from the Dominican Republic and from Puerto Rico! We tried to find the source of water and deal with pumping it out with a shop vac since the bilge pump was not keeping up. Andy decided that the best thing to do was call the coast guard, but our VHF would never get through so he interrupted a ham net and asked for someone to call the U.S. Coast Guard in PR. Bless those hams! He called the coast guard and we went back to our problem. We found that the Dripless stuffing box that goes between the shaft and the transmission had worked loose and by jamming a screw driver in place immobilizing the shaft from turning kept the water from coming in. About this time the Coast Guard arrived in a helicopter and called us on VHF. They wanted to know how we were doing and how they could help. They had a pump with them which they offered but we decided we did not need it. We had stopped the leak and gotten rid of the water. We told them that we would be returning to P R under sail because we could not use the engine without the shaft turning! As the CG is getting ready to leave Andy takes a bad fall,cutting his head about 4 inches above the ear. Suddenly there is another problem! The cut is bleeding profusely and Andy is dazed and feeling sick. I called the CG who are still hovering and tell them what has just happened. We decide their on board medic should take a look at him. You can imagine the thoughts that are now going through my head! Andy is able to help me take the sails down so the boat is DIW. Dead in the water! The medic is lowered into the water and comes aboard to help Andy. After cleaning his wound he does not feel that Andy needs to be med evaced. YEW! In the mean time the helo has had to return to P R to refuel. After stabilizing Andy the Medic and I raise the sails and plot a position for the west coast of PR and off we go. When the helicopter returns they bring a sat phone for me to have to make future contacts and they have me try a call back to the station! What a wonderful psychological boast that was for us! The medic jumps in the water and we are on our own feeling that we have been fortunate to have averted two potentially dangerous situations. Are we ever lucky to have such professional people in our Coast Guard! As the CG left the sun is coming up and we sail until 11:30 pm when we are taken under tow just outside of Boqueron PR. The sat phone was so helpful in arranging for SeaTow as well. They got us settled on the anchor. They also were very professional! Today hopefully we will have the mechanic fix our problem and we can plan to start again! During all this our Grandaughter Katie who is a LTJG (P) in the Coast Guard and a class mate of the helo pilot kept the family calm! We are so proud that she is a part of the CG. So that's the long story...we are tired, but blessed that we have so many that were thinking about us yesterday! Thank you all for your concerns and to all a good day!
Sally & Andy on board Seaquel
Sent from my iPad_

Bill


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Double like!!.. Thanks for passing that on, Bill!


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## JonEisberg (Dec 3, 2010)

btrayfors said:


> Following is from Sally aboard Seaquel, anchored this morning off Boqueron PR. It explains the emergency and the head injury, as well as the trip to PR afterwards.


Any further details on this one? Specifically, related to the type of failure, or brand of the shaft seal?

Just a hunch, but I'm gonna guess much of this drama might have been easily avoided...

Presuming the seal was the popular PSS from PYI, the most common 'failure' is the rotor/collar sliding forward on the shaft, releasing the pressure on the boot, in which case water will flow in at an alarming rate... Again, presuming that was the problem, folks with a PSS shaft seal or similar should know _that there should NEVER be any excuse for allowing that particular 'failure' to occur..._

There are several precautions that can be taken on installation to prevent that from happening... Some people simply slap a zinc collar on the shaft to prevent the rotor from ever moving forward... Not the most elegant or secure solution, but there is so little pressure involved anyway, it should be up to the task 99% of the time. A better solution would be to clamp a split stainless collar in place, available from sources like McMaster-Carr... I've simply clamped a split PVC conduit matching the dimension between the shaft seal and my shaft coupling in place, no way can the seal go anywhere... Even a high strength AWAB hose clamp or two should do the job, and certainly be better than nothing clamped onto the shaft to prevent any forward slippage of the seal to occur...

In my experience, the PSS seals are extremely reliable, but I'm amazed how often I see them installed solely dependent upon the integrity of the set screws to keep them in place, absent the simplest of fixes in place to keep them from moving...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to know more about the precise nature of their problem, if those details are known...


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