The rest of the story - dan
Back in early December I related the chilling emergency call that we heard from sailing vessel Columbine. The call came from the crew of a sailboat, hard aground and pounding on the reefs of western Cuba. Cuban authorities were unresponsive and a US Coastguard cutter was headed to them, just six hours away. That was the last we heard of them until today. Often one never hears anymore than the initial call for help in such situations and that would probably be true for this one except for the vast interconnectivity and searchability of the internet. Haunted by the desperate call that we heard that day I searched the internet for the outcome for that grounding and this is what I found:
S/V Sangaris wrote on the Cruisers Forum
“Just heard from the deliver skipper that the CG was denied permission to enter Cuban waters to assist and that they, the Cuban authorities, would send help. That didn't happen for many hours, and the skipper reports, "...about 1500 on December 3 with a crew member displaying signs of a possible life threatening medical condition and the boat starting to come apart, I declared an emergency and asked the Coast Guard to take us off the boat, which they did." All arrived safely back in Key West.”
Etoken wrote this on the Havana Journal web site
“My mom and dad (dad just suddenly passed away this past July) had a sailboat they used across the carribean and south america. While they loved the idea of visiting Cuba, they never broke the U.S. law to enter the waters there.
Last month, while the boat was en route to Key West, a third party captain hired by my mom somehow ran the boat into a reef in cuban waters. The U.S. coast guard was able to rescue the men off the sailboat, but the Cuban coast guard allowed only the rescue of men, not the boat itself.
Sort of reaching at straws here but… We are trying to determine the outcome of mom’s boat - Sailing Vessel Columbine - a 40 foot Valiant sailboat. This is a very tragic end to a very beautiful boat, and a continued tragic end to the beautiful life of my father.
Any words of wisdom on this topic greatly appreciated…”
