NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/rec/boats/7925

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 1.9 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Bill Courington)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: Re: Solo Sailor Missing
Date: 17 Nov 92 09:37:58 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
Lines: 29
Message-ID: <lghfbmINN79n@cronkite>
References: <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: sextant.eng.sun.com

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dave Watson) writes:
>A brief report in the Washington Post this past Sunday noted that Mike Plant
>and his boat Coyote were missing in the North Atlantic.  He was in transit from
>New York to Les Sables d'Olonne France in preparation for the start of the
>Vendee Globe Challenge race.  Does anyone have any more information on this?
>

There has been some discussion on the CompuServe sailing forum.
The 406 EPIRB (new type that sends a code identifying the boat)
had not been registered.  It transmitted for less than a minute,
and was thought to be a false alarm, something that apparently is
extremely common.  A week or so before the EPIRB went off, Plant
had been in radio contact with a ship, said he had lost most of
his power, was working to fix it.  This was in the North Atlantic,
yet the EPIRB went off in the vicinity of Bermuda.

I have seen Coyote.  In the manner of the recent French singlehand
designs, she looks like a skimming dish:  low freeboard, extreme
beam carried right to the transom, lots of topside flare.  I would
say that she is the kind of boat that _must_ be kept on her feet
and that would have a narrow range of positive stability.  (Think
of a scow:  very stable up to 90 degrees, then over she goes, and
very stable upside down.)  Not a forgiving design.

I hope he's limping toward land under jury rig.

BILL COURINGTON