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American Spirit II - Re: Day 284 Supplemental; Thank You Merlyn of Poole; Thursday, October 16, 2014



Dear Brian, Joel and Jeremy,

Thank you so much for this great e-mail.  It was a real pleasure to be of service and delighted that you appreciated it so much.

We all really enjoyed the contact we had with you across the vast expanse of Indian Ocean; keeping in touch every couple of hours, swapping comments about the weather, dinner menu and likelihood or otherwise of green flashes. 

I was so pleased to see you pop up on AIS that first evening because it meant that your mast was still up, we could find you easily and we could be on hand to help if things did not turn out well.  Every day that we came on watch and either could see your tricolour light or the mast and sails was a great day.

Beer transfer was also hugely appreciated by all of us aboard Merlyn of Poole and each time we cracked open a Bintang we toasted American Spirit II.

We are so pleased that your great story '1,481 miles without a forestay' had such a good ending too.  Best of luck with sourcing the parts and we are looking forward to sailing with you for the rest of the voyage.

Jonathan, Sigi and Geoff

On 2014-10-17 11:01, American Spirit II wrote:

The 'Longest' Escort

On behalf of myself, Joel Heyne and Jeremy Nance I want to thank you for your incredible support in standing by to assist and escort us in our moment of greatest need and peril all the way to Mauritius; 1,481 miles over a period of 12 days. With our forestay breaking at 1:20 PM on October 5, you jibed over, sailed back to us and came up on our AIS at 10:13 PM that same day, 9 hours later. Such a welcome sight did ever we see!

With high winds and confused and at times mountainous seas, and especially during the first few days when the outcome of our misfortune was still in doubt, it was with great relief that we saw your vessel day and night, 24 hours a day, usually within 1 1/2 miles or closer of our position; always ready to assist should the mast come down, knowing that you might even have to gather us from the sea in difficult conditions if we had to leave the boat altogether.

The seamanship you exhibited and the trying conditions that you and your crew had to endure to 'sail slow' and stay with us does credit to those of us who sail the world's oceans. And your dogged, selfless commitment to help fellow sailors in need is one that years from now, when those of us in the World ARC 2014/15 talk and get together to relive one of our life's greatest adventures, the 'Escort of Merlyn of Poole of American Spirit II' across the Indian Ocean will be retold and never forgotten.

Thank you.

 

 

 


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