Mary Constance - never gives up

by Nancy Knudsen on 15 Dec 2006 ARC Rally Day 19.

With Australian yacht Mary Constance having lost her second set of shrouds, Sail-World's Crusing Editor Nancy Knudsen and husband Ted Nobbs on their Petersen 46 Blackwattle are sailing in company with her on slow trip to St.Lucia. There is still 600 miles to go.

Here is Nancy's latest report.

In company with Mary Constance. Having fixed her starboard shroud, now her port shroud is come asunder, and we have no more wire or spares to give her.

Prudence and good seamanship dictates that we sail in company with her while she sails on one tack and motors on the other, gingerly to St Lucia.

As long as she doesn't put too much pressure on the failed shroud, they are pretty confident they can get there that way. However, she doesn't have enough fuel to get there, and the ARC has currently appealed to any member of the ARC who is anywhere near us and can spare fuel to rendezvous with us.

She doesn't have enough water either, so they are also appealing for that. We have some fuel and water to give her, but not enough.

We will escort her to St Lucia, at whatever pace she can manage. It is 700 miles to St Lucia, so it is expected to be at least a week. She can only sail on a starboard tack, and currently we have a south-westerly, which requires a port tack.

Another Australian boat, Zulane, has volunteered to collect fuel when he arrives on Monday and set off again to meet us with fuel and water supplies, but that won't help if we can't get that far.

Below is Nancy's latest audio report. Below you will find listed early stories from the ARC.