Communication Breakdown

Latest Position: 04/30/09 2003Z 12 1.008N 60 29.886W

Mom here...

It has been a difficult few days for all of his here behind the scenes. As many of you know, Zac contacts us here at home twice a day at least. We get his position and exchange weather information and navigation strategy as well as shooting the breeze and keeping each other up on all of the latest news.

Zac didn't call yesterday - all day. He didn't call today either. Laurence is in Grenada and went to give the heads up to the Coast Guard there just in case Zac didn't show up as expected on Friday. They offered to send their regular recognizance helicopter that flies out of Trinidad over his last known position and scout out the area at first light. We were so grateful for their sincerity and desire to help.

This morning when Laurence and crew went down to the Coast Guard office to see how things were going, no one seemed to know what he was talking about. The helicopter out of Trinidad could not be sent with out the Sargent's approval and he didn't get in until 8:00. They would have to send him the message - but they had said they sent it last night... No one seemed to know what was procedure or how to organize the flight. In the end we still don't know if any aircraft went out. We did not feel it necessary to organize a search & rescue but it sure would have been nice to confirm that our worst fears were NOT true!

For any of you reading this blog for the first time, Zac has been at sea, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, for the past nearly 5 weeks - the longest leg of his trip to date. A week ago or so his radar stopped receiving for some reason and he has had to wake himself up every 20 minutes, 24 hours a day all week long to check the horizon for shipping. Fortunately, his AIS receiver is still working well - it just isn't picking up every ship. This fatigue factor is probably incomprehensible to most of us but can be very dangerous. The mind is foggy and reactions are slow. To say that we have been more concerned for Zac's safety than usual is an understatement. To suddenly stop hearing from him under these circumstances was especially nerve wracking.

As usual, the prayer requests flew out across the Internet. We purposed to set our minds on things above - taking our fearful thoughts captive and repeating God's promises loudly as if to drown out any negative thoughts. God's hand has been so heavily evident on this trip, we just knew that Zac had to be OK. I prayed for peace and received it. Fear crept in and I prayed for a sign. I went to the mailbox and found it - a post card, mailed over a month ago, from Zac while he was in St Helena - his last stop. Another amazing 'coincidence'!

Zac's post card from St Helena

Beautiful St Helena Island in the South Atlantic

We heard from Zac late this morning. Before Zac left on his trip he was sponsored a little gadget called a SPOT Satellite Messenger. It is used for reporting your position (lat/long) when you are in distant places, say out of cell phone reach. It is a great device. It offers 3 options: '911' - come and get me (which alerts international search & rescue services), 'Help' - just lets whoever is receiving the signal (friends, family) that you need help, or 'OK' - reports the person's position and a wonderful "Hi. It's Zac. I'm OK. Just checking in." Sent as a text message right to my cell phone! It is a standard message that was preprogrammed before Zac left last June but it was music to my ears. He hasn't used it in many months because the coverage zone is not world wide yet. He must have known we would be worried and dug it out.

He has sent several messages today updating his position. We can see that he is on course and moving right along. He should be in beautiful Grenada tomorrow. I'm sure he is anxious. The yearly Drum Festival begins Friday and he didn't want to miss it!

He must be having some problem with his sat phone or charger. We are not sure if he has any other equipment failures at this time but know that he has studied this passage and approach to Grenada extensively over the past 5 weeks so will find his way to port in time.

Laurence has been busy arranging a slip at the Port Louis Marina, a sail maker to repair the tear in Zac's main sail, a mechanic to troubleshoot the Yanmar, and finding the lay of the land in St George's.

Besides being viciously attacked by a cockroach on his first night's stay he has thoroughly enjoyed Grenada and her kind and generous people.

Good news - Karen Foshay at KCET said that the piece on Zac that airs tonight at 8:00 will be online at 8:30 tonight. The web address is www.kcet.org/socal and the piece is called The Year of Living Dangerously. If you like the piece, please leave a comment online. KCET is our local PBS affiliate and program sponsors love a good review.

If you are new to Zac's story and reading the blog for the first time - welcome! All of Zac's blogs written over the past 10.5 months are archived on a list on the right hand column of the blog. You can read Zac's entries over this past year, a year of living dangerously, and also of living life to its fullest.

Cheers,

Marianne