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April 1, 2005
The yacht "Apostol Andrey", which was forced to give up its circumnavigation, has safely arrived in the port of Wellington, New Zealand.
The accident took place on March 3, 2005 in 700 miles from the coast of the Antarctica. The yacht had lost its rudder at the point with the coordinates: 63°44'S and 169°15'W and after that she could not be operated in a due way. At this moment there were six crewmembers on board the yacht. Nikolay Litau, the skipper of the yacht and the honoured Master of sports sent the following information in his message:
– At 3 o'clock in the night the yacht lost its ability to be operated. At daylight we examined the equipment and worst fears were confirmed – the rudder blade was lost. The further continuation of out third circumnavigation was impossible. Everything is OK on board, the crew is in goof health. We have enough food, water and fuel.
On March 4 the crew made a temporary rudder, we used the wooden door of the crew's quarters as a rudder blade, and the jokey pole instead of the baller (axis). The yacht "Apostol Andrey" took a course to New Zealand, which is at about 1300 miles distance.
The crew was forced to stop its circumnavigation around the Antarctica at the moment, when they reached the final stage, and good favourable winds gave hope of successful completion of their sailing. Now the yachtsmen would need to return to the northeast, facing predominant winds, to leave aside the zone of autumn cyclones and to cross the "furious fifties".
Damaged and with poor maneuverability the yacht could not resist strong head winds, which drifted it to the east and did not allow to approach the goal. During the first four days after the accident the yacht "Apostol Andrey" sailed at average 80 miles daily and managed to approach New Zealand only at 100 km. On March 12 the yacht was caught by a severe hurricane, the wind rate of which exceeded 31 m/sec.
The yacht spent fourteen days to cross a stripe of the west winds and currents, and after passing the 51-th meridian of the South Latitude to turn to the east. The same period time the yacht spent in order to reach New Zealand.
After passing more than 2000 miles without the rudder the yacht "Apostol Andrey" has arrived in Wellington. Here the yacht would be lifted from the water and all necessary repair works would be done. After that the skipper and the crew would take a decision about the further destiny of their third circumnavigation.
Press-Service of the Adventure Club.
05.04.2005
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