Update from Mom
Hello All!
Mom here...
A few updates:
1. The date of Zac's last blog was somehow wrong. It was posted early this afternoon. I mention that because he is not at sea yet but is currently weighing everything for his final decision. The current weather window is not as open as he would like with a low pressure system due to arrive in Cape Town sometime late on the 13th and heading east towards him at an unknown rate. His trip would have to go without a hitch for him to pull it off.
2. Zac received an email this afternoon from Polish solo circumnavigator Natasza Caban informing him that their mutual friend, Marta, another Polish solo circumnavigator was rescued from her distressed boat between East London and Port Elizabeth. Natasza didn't have a lot of info and all I could find out about it online was that for some reason she anchored while only half way to port and ended up on the beach. Her boat was able to be towed off the beach and is currently at the yard in Port Elizabeth.
3. On a lighter note, this week's signed poster and head shot go to Cathrine Norton. Interestingly, the name was chosen by our own Kathryn! We will have to suspend the poster and head shot contest for now because we are out of them!! Laurence will have Zac sign more in Cape Town later this month.
Please pray for Zac to decide wisely when to leave and for the weather to hold whenever he does go!
Cheers,
Marianne - Mom
Mom here...
A few updates:
1. The date of Zac's last blog was somehow wrong. It was posted early this afternoon. I mention that because he is not at sea yet but is currently weighing everything for his final decision. The current weather window is not as open as he would like with a low pressure system due to arrive in Cape Town sometime late on the 13th and heading east towards him at an unknown rate. His trip would have to go without a hitch for him to pull it off.
2. Zac received an email this afternoon from Polish solo circumnavigator Natasza Caban informing him that their mutual friend, Marta, another Polish solo circumnavigator was rescued from her distressed boat between East London and Port Elizabeth. Natasza didn't have a lot of info and all I could find out about it online was that for some reason she anchored while only half way to port and ended up on the beach. Her boat was able to be towed off the beach and is currently at the yard in Port Elizabeth.
3. On a lighter note, this week's signed poster and head shot go to Cathrine Norton. Interestingly, the name was chosen by our own Kathryn! We will have to suspend the poster and head shot contest for now because we are out of them!! Laurence will have Zac sign more in Cape Town later this month.
Please pray for Zac to decide wisely when to leave and for the weather to hold whenever he does go!
Cheers,
Marianne - Mom
posted by Zac at
9:25 PM
11 Comments:
Close call for Polish yacht, women crew
Dieketseng Maleke HERALD REPORTER
TWO young Polish yachtswomen were rescued early yesterday after their yacht ran into trouble at Kenton-on-Sea.
Skipper Marta Obieglo, 23, and her crewmate Magda Makowssa, 21, were asleep aboard the yacht Ania off-shore from Kenton when the yacht broke anchor and drifted towards the shore. The pair originally set sail from Szczecin in Poland and were en route from Durban to Cape Town with Port Elizabeth as their next port of call.
NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said the NSRI responded to a distress call and found the yacht about 20m from the beach in 4m breaking swells. “It appears that after the yacht dragged the anchor it missed a reef by centimetres,” he said.
Keryn van der Walt of the Port Alfred NSRI said: “We received a call in the early hours of yesterday to tow a yacht in distress with two women on board.”
It took them 45 minutes to attach the yacht, which was then towed toward Port Elizabeth and met by a Port Elizabeth NSRI boat east of Bird Island, which brought it into the harbour. Van der Walt said the yacht had a crack in the hull.
Lambinon said while the yacht was in distress a chokka boat had tried to help but could not do so due to rough seas.
Obieglo declined to speak to the Herald and it was not clear where her companion was as she arrived alone in Port Elizabeth on the Ania.
PE NSRI station commander Ian Gray said: “Skipper Obieglo said she would work on the boat and be here for three days. She is planning to go to South America after repairs and will find someone to help her with the other work.”
and here another one !
Polish Yacht and Crew Rescued
Date: Thursday, January 01 @ 02:49:14 SAST
Topic: General News from Port Elizabeth
www.MyPE.co.za: At 04h00 on the 31st of December 2008 NSRI Port Alfred were activated following an emergency distress call, intercepted by Maritime Radio Services, from the 8.5 metre Polish yacht Ania, reported to have dragged anchor and now in the surf line and drifting ashore at Kenton-on-Sea with two females on-board.
NSRI Port Alfred launched their rescue craft Kowie Rescuer and a rescue vehicle was dispatched towing their rescue craft Arthur Scales which was launched on-scene.
On arrival on-scene the yacht, with two Polish females on-board, from Szczecin, Poland, the skipper Marta Obieglo, aged 23 and her crew mate Magda Makowssa, aged 21, were found 20 metres from the beach in the surf-line in 4 metre breaking swells after the yacht dragged her anchor during the night while the two females were at anchor and asleep on-board the yacht off-shore of Kenton-on-Sea.
Waves were found breaking over the yacht and she appeared to be on the beach.
A Chokka fishing boat that responded to the distress call, Shehasta, couldn't get anywhere close enough to render assistance and the Chokka boat stood by in deeper waters to lend assistance if required when the yacht was brought back out to sea!
It appears that after the yacht dragged her anchor she missed a reef by centimetres and appears to have dragged anchor to the beach in the pounding surf quite comfortably.
NSRI Port Alfred Station Commander Keryn van der Walt said that on their arrival NSRI Coxswain Koos Smith brought the Deep-Sea rescue craft Kowie Rescuer into the surf line in between wave sets, turning the rescue craft around, to face the incoming sets, on a wave, 20 metres from the hard beach, to alongside the casualty yacht and a tow-line was passed, with the assistance of NSRI rescue swimmers Juan Pretorius and Neil Burger, who were aboard the NSRI rigid inflatable rescue craft Arthur Scales which had launched from the beach by this stage, and both rescue swimmers managed to clamber onto the yacht in their effort to get a tow-line rigged, while waves were breaking over the yacht and over both rescue craft.
Juan and Neil managed to secure the tow-rope to around the mast, and once the tow-line was secured, with the yacht at this point lying side on to the incoming waves, Kowie Rescuer managed to motor back out through the surf, but the anchor continued to drag, which was still dragging and fastened to the yacht, and which held both the rescue craft and the casualty yacht back in the surf line to face another barage of waves breaking over the craft while Koos attempted to drag pull the yacht out through the surf.
Keryn said that fortunately the weak link on the anchor chain eventually broke and despite the yacht being tossed about by waves like a cork behind the rescue craft they managed to tow the yacht out of the surf-line through the breaking swells and into deeper and calmer waters where an assessment revealed that the yacht was taking water.
It appears that the keel of the casualty yacht has caved into the main hull and it appears that water is coming in through cracks around the keel but our rescue swimmer Juan Pretorius remained on-board the yacht and a water pump has been rigged and while water is being pumped from the yacht Kowie Rescuer towed the yacht 32 nautical miles towards Port Elizabeth and were met by NSRI Port Elizabeth's Deep-Sea rescue craft Spirit of Toft, East of Bird Island, and the Port Elizabeth NSRI rescue craft has taken over the tow from Port Alfred NSRI and is currently towing the yacht to Port in Port Elizabeth and they were estimated to arrive at 14h15 on the 31st.
The yacht was sailing from Durban to Cape Town and her last port of call was East London and her next port of call was Port Elizabeth. The yachts home port is Szczecin.
Hi Marianne!
Thanks for the update. As for the prayers, consider it done!
Anita Miracle ~_/)
Waterloo, NY
Captain SV "Wombat"
May God be with Zac abd give him a good weather window. I know what it's like down there! While in the Navy we were coming back from the Indian Ocean rounding Africa and had waves breaking over our bow and men were walking on the bulkheads! And this was on an Aircraft Carrier (CVN-69). So I know it can be quite trecherous for him. Also glad that he rean into Natasza. Iv been watching her too. Good luck to uo Zav, Marc
I found photos of Marta's beaching and rescue. The site is Dutch...
http://www.dieburger.com/Pages/Multimedia/Photogalleries.aspx?uuid=19.0.1192584715
Sorry to sound snarky, but it doesn't seem that Marta is a solo circumnavigator if she has a crew-member on her boat...
Just a thought!
Dana
Santa Monica
Wow!,After 12 hours battling rough water with the wind and the waves coming off-shore one night,I finally got the break I was looking for.The wind direction shifted slightly and I was able to sail to shore.(coolant pump on motor broke)I finally arrived at Daytona Beach,FLA at 3am,Dropped anchor about a thousand feet off shore in about 20 ft of water.The storm was crashing waves on the beach and I was thrown out of my bunk a few times.Police on a bull horn woke me,I contacted them by radio and told them my ability to motor into the marina was hampered and I was waiting on Sea-Tow.
That story about the Polish women could have been my story.Only differance is my anchor held.The Sea-Tow operator didn't even want to come near my craft because of the danger of my boat being lifted by the wave-action then dropped on the keel.The danger is the mast can whip down and take out the rescue boat.So they were lucky although the hull damage is probably more severe then they realize.Hope they are able to continue on their journey.
To Capt.Zac:God bless and keep you safe! The world is watching!
Straight Wakes,
Mike S.
Good to hear from you Marianne. I will specifically pray for Zac's wisdom, and the weather while he is at sea.
His adventure is just so awesome.
Prayers for you and your family also.
Have an awesome Sunday,
Kathy
Bend, OR
OK, you asked for it. Zac asked for it and anon asked for it so now you got it!!
The weekly auction is back.
This week we have a set of Plyometric Jump Boxes to get you in shape for Zac's Homecoming Party, another one of the fabulous Zac and Intrepid paintings and a surprise from Mariannes Mom that should be worth a lot of money after Zac publishes his book.
So visit http://www.barstools4u.com/zac.htm and show our young Captain the support he deserves.
Respectfully
Bill Mann
South Pasadena, Ca
bill@barstools4u.com
@ Willvp: thanks for posting the stories about Marta and her crew member. Riveting read to say the least!
@ Mike S: when did this happen? Glad all turned out well.
@ Bill (the Man) Mann: Soooo good to see you hear on the blog.
Hello Zac,
From CapeTownMagazine.com we want to wish you thebest of success. I personally remember reading the book "Solo" about another incredible solo journey, and it is a remarkable story, let alone experience.
We hope to see you here in Cape Town for our interview, and have a surprise for you in store.
The team of CapeTownMagazine.com
ps. we will see 1.8million readers in 2009, so its worth a turn to the mother city!
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