MV AMALIA look out request for sailboat “TUNANTE II” probably adrift with 4 crewmembers aboard

TO ALL TRANS-SOUTH-ATLANTIC MARINE TRAFFIC

Sailboat Tunante II declared an emergency on August 26^th 2014 after a knock down in heavy weather, loosing sails, rudder, engine and energy, some 200 nm off the coast of South Brasil. Sighted by a tanker vessel involved in SAR operations, rescue attempts failed due to 7/8 meters seas and Force 8 gusts.

Tunante’s exhausted sat phones kept on recording “keep alive” signals for further 48hs, till their batteries finally died. They survived the storm afloat.

One month later, satellite imagery located the sailboat on 28^th September, SAR operations were resumed and a search & rescue Orion P3 airplane sighted her again on 11^th October at sunset.

On 12^th October, overcast skies prevented finding the sailboat in the area, whilst a fisher vessel recovered its life raft 180 nm south of that position. The raft appears to have been opened to access its flares and other missing equipment, then used to assist in attempts to repair the rudder, and later lost after breaking its tow line.

While the probabilities of survival aboard the sailboat cannot be ignored, the Argentine Space Agency CONAE has been combing the seas with radar imagery contention barriers, following drift and leeway computerized drift pattern models.

The attached figure shows current Drift Pattern along Trans South Atlantic marine traffic routes’ strip. Color code indicates increasing wind leeway factors from 0% (100% current drift only) to 4% (100% current drift vector + 4% leeway vector), through blue, red, green and yellow markers, in that order.

Sequential detections of suspect floating objects, of similar characteristics to the sailboat, have been found by CONAE. However, physical verification has of lately proved to be a problem, due to the remoteness of the sightings and lack of means.

Our hopes remain pending an eventual fortuitous sighting by marine traffic, whom we dearly request to keep this case in mind, keep an out look for and investigate any suspicious sighting, in which case please identify, assist and report to the nearest MRCC authorities.

The Family of Tunante II Crewmembers.

Ref 1.: Navarea VI 0154    31/07/15  http://www.hidro.gob.ar/nautica/inv.asp 

Ref 2.: PNA (Argentine Coast Guard) Navtex Warning