Missing Yacht

[Jomlett]

US Coast Guard confirmed it had begun searching again after an online petition gathered 150,000 signatures.... http://bbc.in/1sPt20V

[Baldric]

Good news!

[bookbinder]

I think that this search will be like looking for a needle in a haystack - but they must first find the haystack.

[Frank97]

That's good to hear, lets hope they have some even better news soon.

[redman41]

Unless they have managed to get into the Liferaft then it's unlikely that they will survive for long in the water, unfortunately.
Their Yacht must have hit an object and got holed

[ChillDoubt]

Just read it on a news alert.
These guys deserve another 72 hours at least.

[marval]

I think they needed to search for a bit longer.

[Sqad]

I think that the U.S coastguards know the score....they are the professionals.

[Jomlett]

The coastguard said locator beacons activated by the crew indicated they were in a position 1,000 miles east of Massachusetts on Friday morning.

"Those beacons don't work if they're wet so we've got reasons to believe they're in the life raft because they're dry and they're together."

[Baldric]

They reported they were taking on water, no injuries were mentioned, they are reported as being 'a well trained crew' so most likely made it into the life raft, question is, how long... . . . . .?

[rockyracoon]

I'm so pleased for the families, the men are all experienced sailors so if anyone should have a chance at survival it's these 4. Hopefully the search will find them.

[mikey4444]

Are there any yachties here on AB ? I have not a drop of Nelsons blood in me, despite living near to the for most of my life, so I am genuinely ignorant of these matters.

This liferaft that we all pinning our hopes on...does it carry a radio beacon ?
This is the 21st century, so I can't see why they would go to sea without one, when they were contemplating such a dangerous crossing.

[mikey4444]

Jomlett ...just seen your answer to my question...its fingers crossed then.

[Jomlett]

Its seems likely that a 20 hour survival time assumes the four British sailors were in the water, not in the 12 man life raft that the Beneteau 40.7 Cheeki Rafiki was carrying.

Because a quick cross check with the survival charts more commonly used in the sailing community suggests that survival time assumes the four British sailors were in the water, not in the 12 man life raft that the Beneteau 40.7 Cheeki Rafiki was carrying. There have been many cases where sailors have survived in life rafts for weeks even months.

[mikey4444]

Jomlett...can't find where its said that the US Coastguard "said locator beacons activated by the crew indicated they were in a position 1,000 miles east of Massachusetts on Friday morning." Can you help ?

If this beacon is working, why can't the Coastguard locate the position ?

[redman41]

There is no Signal anymore otherwise they could be located .
Having spent many Years in the Merchant Navy, take it from me, the Sea takes no prisoners

[Baldric]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27473507

The coastguard said locator beacons activated by the crew indicated they were in a position 1,000 miles east of Massachusetts on Friday morning.
"Those beacons don't work if they're wet so we've got reasons to believe they're in the life raft because they're dry and they're together," Miss Goslin added.
Mr Male's father told ITV Meridian: "They waited until the first beacon had run out before they actually set the second beacon - that's rational-thinking people."

[Jomlett]

The US Coastguard were contacted by the yacht’s managers in Falmouth, Cornwall, on Friday. Two personal locator beacons registered to the yacht had been activated, but they have since stopped transmitting signals.
A coastguard spokesman said: ‘We searched with multiple assets over 4,000 square miles for pings from the vessel’s personal locator beacons. After receiving no more transmissions we believe that we would have found them by now if we were going to find them.
‘These beacons are small devices and the ones being used have a very short battery life.’

[humbersloop]

good news then, and some hope

for me, there's far too much information missing here to think anything else at the moment

[redman41]

Useful info here for those who are interested.
As Humbersloop says, hope is all that's left now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27491350

[mikey4444]

Its seems that a lesson has to be learnt here....put bigger beacons on yachts, with better, long-life batteries in them. Surely the extra cost of better batteries would in very small indeed compared to the overall cost of these expensive boats. And why put a beacon on board a yacht when it might be affected by water ! Waterproofing should be a main concern shouldn't it ?