Round the world solo sailor in trouble

[Heather S]

about it..

although i havent gotten the chance to meet ken yet i am dating his nephew. along with his family i am keeping a close look on what it going on! the weather has gotten better but its expected to be getting worse late tonight into tomorrow. the plane has come by two times now once not being able to locate him and the second time running out of fuel by the time they found him. they are going back to refuel and then heading back out. the boat is expected to arrive by 10pm tonight! hes keeping strong and doing okay!

 

[CalebD]

When I first checked this post out

and visited Ken's website I was excited for him and was hoping that I would be able to follow his posts as he made his way around the world and do some vicarious blue water sailing. I am sorry that the dream of a lifetime trip now seems inevitably cut short. I am happy for his family and relatives that he is alive and presumably well. I have been checking web news sites to see if he has been picked up yet but nothing on Yahoo or BBC yet except one story of the Chilean airplane spotting him which I can no longer find. I only hope that he still has his passport and that the dreaded DHS does not hassle him while he tries to get back to his family. I also congratulate him for making it as far as he did.

 

[Rick Webb]

No Story There Paul

It's just that they have the same engines and props but the P-3s are on upside down.

 

[Dobbs]

Dismasting

As a rigger reviewing his log, it sounds to me like his roller-furler failed and led to his dismasting. His description of the furler wanting to turn the headstay is indicative of seized bearings in the drum (a problem of drums with hardened steel bearings that have lost their seal). Also, he mentions chafe on the halyard. My thought here is that his wrapstop was worn and was allowing the halyard to wrap around his headstay. I would bet that he never replaced or serviced his roller-furler when he bought the boat. Furlers with hardened steel bearings must be carefully maintained if they are expected to last years in a saltwater environment.

 

[dave the kid]

barnes got recsued by chilean trawler - no word on

fate of boat.

 

[ConchyJoe]

The latest

SANTIAGO, Chile - An American sailor was rescued early Friday after three days adrift on a disabled yacht off the southern tip of South America, the Chilean navy said.Ken Barnes, 47, was picked up shortly before 6 a.m. EST by the Chilean trawler Polar Pesca 1, the navy’s Operations Department reported in Punta Arenas, 3,200 miles south of the capital Santiago.An officer who asked not to be identified in line with the department’s rules said by telephone that Barnes was in good general condition except for a small wound in his right thigh.Barnes left Long Beach, Calif., on Oct. 28, hoping to be the first solo sailor from the West Coast to circumnavigate the globe. He hit a fierce storm about a week ago that broke both the vessel’s masts and its hatches, disabled the steering and soaked Barnes’ supplies and food.The U.S. Coast Guard and Chilean maritime officials picked up signals from his distress beacon Tuesday afternoon, just minutes after Barnes called his girlfriend on his satellite phone to report he was in trouble.A Chilean navy search plane spotted Barnes around 5 p.m. Wednesday and dropped a life raft that missed the boat, said Barnes’ longtime girlfriend, Cathy Chambers.