Chagos - Saved by the U.S Navy!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it on this Military website! and our account of what happened below.

CRUISING LOG
 
17th June: Depart Chagos for Mauritius.

19th June: Decide to head to Rodrigues about 200 nautical miles east of Mauritius.

20th June: Approximately 660 nautical miles away from Rodrigues, we heard a loud snap. Forestay at the top of the mast snapped, backstays are loose. It's too far for us to motor all the way to Rodrigues. Decide to head back to Chagos - Diego Garcia which is about 330 nautical miles away northeast.

We contact Major Perry, a BIOT Executive Officer in Chagos to request for assistance, but we were told that they do not have any assets to assist us. We need to get to Peros Banhos at the very least or declare an emergency. 

We have food, water and all on board are healthy. We do not declare an emergency. We start the engine and slowly make our way back. Wind at 18 knots. We hope the mast holds.

22nd June: The wind dies down. We quickly bring the foresail down and tie it down on deck.

23rd June: The engine fails. We can't propel forward or backwards. Something is broken. Using the storm jib to sail but unable to stay on course. Going at 1-1.2 knots per hour. We are drifting... Hope the wind maintains but direction not to Diego Garcia.

At this point, we are contacting Major Perry of BIOT everyday to report our daily position. We are drifting towards Somalia! All on board still healthy & calm.

25th June: Alex spots a US navy ship on AIS. We radio them for assistance. After several attempts, Capt. Bruce Kreger, USS Seay's civiliian master responds.

We report our situation and crew onboard - an Australian, an American, a Swiss, a Canadian and a Malaysian.

"What can we do to help?", asks Capt. Bruce Kreger.

950ft USNS Seay up ahead

As suggested by our Captain, the USS Seay tries to shield us from the wind so that we can secure the mast. But it did not work. They simply drifted right in front of us!

The photo above shows our crew Amos and I, on each end of the bows, about to put our hands on the 950ft navy ship, to keep Raptor from colliding into the giant. The USS Seay glides right past us, a whirlpool behind them.

"Let's not do that again!", says Capt. Bruce Kreger.

Photo of Raptor from USNS Seay

After some discussion (between USS Seay, the BIOT customs & police), the USS Seay finally agree to tow us into Diego Garcia.

This was not without challenge of course, their smallest towline was huge! We had to find a shackle big enough to fit it. The waters were rough. 

The Indian Ocean is like a washing machine, waves coming from all over the place. We had a hard time getting the dinghy into the water without it smashing onto the boat. 

Rough seas - Getting the towline

Alex and Amos also had a bit of engine trouble on their way to retrieving the towline from USS Seay. It took a while to attach it onto our bridle, by then the towline had somehow got caught under the rudders and was starting to get taut. We immediately radioed USS Seay to release more line. Fortunately Alex was able to untangle it before it caused any damage.

USS Seay towed us for over 20 hours at 5.5-6 knots per hour in 20kts of wind coming from the Southeast. It was a rough ride! The MOST unpleasant ride of my life. I thought Raptor would rip apart each time we went over a wake.
 

Being towed by USNS Seay

About 3 miles from Diego Garcia lagoon, a small craft assigned to Diego Garcia's port operations met us and towed us safely to the pier escorted by armed military speed boats.

At the pier we were searched and sniffed for 2 hours by two dogs to ensure that we did not have any arms or drugs onboard. We were warned not to roam about anywhere else other than our boat and the designated toilets.

Within several hours, a couple of crew members from the USS Seay came by to see how we were doing. They gave us a few bags of coffee, gatorade, rice and biscuits. So thoughtful of them.

Within days, the people on the island warmed up to us. They were kind and friendly. They brought us to the local supermarket for provisions. They helped custom make a new swivel at the top of the forestay and assisted in getting a new damper plate from Singapore. We also made friends on one of the tug boats who were mostly from Indonesia.

Disintegrated damper plate

We stayed in Diego Garcia for 11 days.

We are extremely thankful and grateful to everyone on USS Seay, the BIOT team and the rest of the staff in Diego Garcia for all their help and hospitality. Apparently we were the 2nd yacht to be allowed entry in the last 5 years.

7th July: Depart for Mauritius (again!)

Note: "Seay is one of 12 Navy ships assigned to MSC's Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron 2, which ensures the readiness of Navy prepositioning ships in the Pacific. These ships carry afloat prepositioned cargo for various U.S. military services. The squadron's mission is to transport vital equipment and supplies to a designated area of operations in support of combatant commanders worldwide."

Beautiful Diego Garcia

A souvenir on our Passports ; )