News from the Abby Sunderland family

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Zondag moeten we dus meer weten hoe het Abby vergaan is.
Overigens net op tijd voor Laura, die immers maandag een afspraak heeft
met de rechter (uitspraak donderdag).

Groet / Cees

http://www.abbysunderland.com/
June 10th, 2010 10:23am We spoke with Abby early this morning and
learned that she had had a very rough day with winds up to 60 knots and
seas 20-25 feet. She had been knocked down several times but was
handling things well. The wind had subsided to around 35 knots which she
and Wild Eyes are quite comfortable with. We were helping her
troubleshoot her engine that she was trying to start to charge her
systems. Satellite phone reception was patchy. She was able to get the
water out of the engine and start her up. We were waiting to hear back
from her when American Search & Rescue authorities called to report
having received a signal from her emergency beacon (EPIRB). We initially
thought that the signal was sent automatically from her water-activated
EPIRB and that it had been activated during one of her knockdowns. As we
pulled the paperwork from her EPIRB registration, we learned that the
signal had come from her manually activated EPIRB. We were referred to
Australian Search & Rescue and while we were on the phone with them
another signal came in from her handheld PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).
Her water-activated EPIRB has not been activated so we are hopeful that
the boat is still upright. We are working closely with American, French
and Australian Search &  Rescue authorities to coordinate several ships
in the area to divert to her location. There are several ships in her
area, the earliest possible contact is 40 hours. We are actively seeking
out some sort of air rescue but this is difficult due to the remoteness
of her location. Australian Search & Rescue have arranged to have a
Quantas Airbus fly over her location at first light (she is 11 hours
later). They will not be able to help her other than to talk via marine
radio if they are able to get close enough. Hopefully, they will be able
to assess her situation and report back to us. Abby has all of the
equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a
dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency
supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon
as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and
is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event
of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is
designed to self-right in the event of capsize. Thank you for all of
your kind emails and calls. We appreciate your prayers and support. We
will update as soon as there is some news. Laurence, Marianne and Team Abby

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