Thread: Australia : Navy closer to reaching stricken sailor

Originally Posted by Mid

It has been recommended that the keel is canted to reduce the freeboard

In laymans terms?..does this mean that the keel is retractable?..

no , swings from side to side , so used in reverse of it's intended design it will tilt to boat closer to the water .

look at the pic above and imagine the keel on the other side , ( in the water ).

BBC TV Frigate on site

15kts breeze and blue skys

'Generali waits for Australian Navy'
Vendee Globe 2008 ©

Sail-World.com : Vendee: Navy reach injured Yann Elies Sat morning

Elies condition has remained stable. He has slept for about four hours last night after taking his painkillers and was woken around 05:00hrs GMT by Marc Guillemot on VHF. Sam Davies' ETA is likely to be after the operation has commenced.

BBC TV

Two Australian Sailors aboard

He should have jiggered the cantabolism and upfurled the maintwonk.

RIB Alongside and personnel aboard Generali

At around 0940h GMT this morning the RAN RIB arrived alongside Generali. Two personnel were despatched on board immediately to assess Yann Elies condition. There are three other people on board the RIB. The Arunta is sitting about 200 metres upwind of Generali and holding station

From Vendee Website:

Her Majesty's Navy doing a Sterling job as usual.

just for interest , here's a pic with the keel in it's normal position when sailing powered up .

the pic in the OP is extreme to say the least .


'Foncia © JEAN MARIE LIOT / DPPI / Vendée Globe'

Sail-World.com : Desjoyeaux doubles Vendee lead over nearest rival

Originally Posted by Mid

'Generali waits for Australian Navy' Vendee Globe 2008 ©

From the look of things and the jib being sheeted off on the windard it is aparent that she is hove to in the pic.
I she is and they don't fuck with anything else and just leave her she will still be in that same location in a few days when a relief crew comes to board her.

Originally Posted by terry57

they never can learn to speak English properly and the dirty little bastards let there dogs shit all over the streets.

Yes Terry, but why bring Thailand into this, it is about sailors.
I have known a few Frog sailors who do some things that I would not do to much of, they do single hand around a lot and I know a couple who have even went way south for a look at antartica,.
One was a nice looking young woman who I happen to meet while layed up in San Diego who was single handing and I met here again about a year later in Deer harbor, Orcas Island Washington and she was working in a boat yard there to put some money back into her cruising kitty.

But if they didn't spend some money to rescue or help these folks, what do you think they would do with the money.
Maybe do a worthwhile thing with it and buy more food to feed the the starving over breeding Africans who every year have hundreds of offspring to feed and never raise one mouth full of food a year to feed them, and every year the rest of the world has to feed and bring to breeding age the younger ones to keep this never ending cycle of breed, feed, Breed, and then do it again.

But you can bet your ass that once they get your money, the politicos will never give any back nor even cut the amount they get, but only want more.
So it matters little what they do with it really.

Arunta got there OK, but pushed too hard thru' rough seas. I heard from a mate in RAN, it may need a hull inspection.

This is a lot of shit to go through to rescue a Yachtsman, but I hope he'll be OK.

An Australian warship has rescued a French yachtsman badly injured in the remote Southern Ocean during a solo round-the-world race, race organisers said on Saturday.
Two crew members transferred Yann Elies to the HMAS Arunta from his 60-foot (18-metre) yacht Generali, fellow sailor Marc Guillemot said on the Vendee Globe race website.
Elies, 34, was unable to move freely and was in great pain after breaking his thighbone on Thursday while changing a sail.
"Some highly professional work. They prepared Yann for the transfer. Still heavy swell but they carried out manoeuvre perfectly.Yan is now aboard the frigate and has a doctor taking care of him," Guillemot said.
"It was like a dream. It didn't seem real. They took care of that magnificently," he said.
Guillemot had changed course to meet Elies early Friday following his accident and remained nearby providing support over the radio until the arrival of the Australian ship, which was carrying a doctor from the famed Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Race director Julian Hocken said there was no need to airlift Elies to hospital as the frigate was fully equipped for medical emergencies.
"The warship is fully fitted out for medical care and for injuries of this level of severity. Yann will stay on the warship as it heads back to Fremantle, back to its home port," Hocken told the BBC earlier.
He said Elies had "held up pretty well" over the past two days since his accident.
Hocken said the weather conditions had greatly improved in the hostile Southern Ocean which would help the rescue effort.

Australian warship rescues Vendee Globe sailor - Breaking News - World - Breaking News

Seems like he'll be fine.

Originally Posted by sabang

but pushed too hard thru' rough seas. I heard from a mate in RAN, it may need a hull inspection

Originally Posted by sabang

This is a lot of shit to go through to rescue a Yachtsman, but I hope he'll be OK.

If a ship isn't sea worthy to perform her dutys then she should be mothballed or scrapped instead of putting lives at risk.
And it seems to me that any countrys uniformed services should be at ready to save any property or lives of any human that needs their help,.
I would think that that would be the primary concern of most posters on this site, as most TD posters are liberals that think that any one shooting at anyone else or going into a country to help the people are at fault and truly wrong in doing so, but also do not want their military uniformed services to do and peace time humanitarian work either.
Some people are just hard to satisfy.

A job well done BG, and I'm glad about that.

But you obviously know nothing about seafaring. I know enough about seafaring to say that give me any Warship in a rough ocean, and I can break it's back. The Southern Ocean is damn rough- a normal swell exceeds your Freeboard. A bad swell can be more than your keel to your Bridge, by a considerable margin.

Maybe you should actually talk to some people that drive ships before commenting.

Been there, done that also,, is she sprung? does she take on an excessive amount of water? Is her shafts running out of line and do the shaft glands need to be adjusted often, does her shaft bearings seem to be running hot or do the thrusts seem to be running hot?
Doesn't sound to me that she has a broken back, shouldn't be so dramatic..
Just what do you base your prognosis on?

^ Dunno, just a fleet chief who was an old classmate says she may well need a hull inspection. You seem to have some lingo there, so I'll revert if I hear more.

Of course it's nowhere near like a broken back.

If the conditions were bad enough to bust up a Ozzie warship, how did the Frog manage the same sea in his little tuna can?

Seems like the daft saving the daft.

We're talking some popped rivets or a bent screw, maybe a compromised prop shaft flyboy. Stick to comm's.

The Commanding Officer of HMAS Arunta was quoted on the Vendee Globe website saying Elies was thought to also have broken ribs and some other injuries. "He's in good spirits though and he's just about to ring his wife," he said. He added that the rescue took about 45 minutes, including a search for Elies's passport which he had "hidden pretty well".




The rescues drew criticism because of the cost to the Australian taxpayer, but Vice Admiral Russ Crane said the navy had no hesitation in responding to the request to help Elies. "They are very experienced and diligent operators and no one knows the conditions in the Southern Ocean better than they do," said race director Denis Horeau.


BBC SPORT | Other sport... | Injured yachtsman rescued by navy

Originally Posted by Mid

"He's in good spirits though and he's just about to ring his wife,"

That would be the last thing on my mind after being rescued...she'd have to wait.

BG are you qualified, in any way, whatsoever, to comment authoritatively, on this whole scenario?

for a time they would have been pushing into a head sea faster than you would really want to . She would of fell off a few and that'll rattle ya teeth .