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Video shows moments before superyacht went down in storm off Sicily

A celebration turned into tragedy for a british tycoon when the storm sank the vessel off sicily. six people remain missing., by henry austin and corky siemaszko | nbc news • published august 21, 2024 • updated on august 21, 2024 at 4:08 pm.

Newly released video captures a luxury superyacht being battered by a violent storm before it suddenly sank off Sicily with 22 people aboard  Monday.

The grainy images obtained by NBC News and other outlets were recorded on closed-circuit television not far from where the Bayesian was anchored,  about a half-mile from the port of Porticello, on Sicily’s northern coast .

The yacht's 250-foot mast, illuminated with lights and lashed by the storm, appears to bend to one side before it finally disappears and is replaced by darkness.

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The speed with which a yacht built to handle the roughest seas capsized stunned maritime experts.  

“I can’t remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that, you know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size,” said Stephen Richter  of SAR Marine Consulting.

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five of the 22 other people who were aboard the 184-foot vessel remain unaccounted for and are believed to be trapped in the Bayesian’s hull, nearly 170 feet underwater.

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Officials confirmed Monday that at least one person, the ship’s cook, had died.  

Missing revealed as divers search superyacht that sank in storm off Sicily

British tech magnate Mike Lynch, 2 US citizens among missing after luxury yacht sinks off Sicily

Superyachts like the Bayesian, which had been available for charters at a rate of $215,000 a week, are designed to stay afloat even as they are taking on water to give the people aboard a chance to escape, Richter said. 

“Boats of this size, they’re taking passengers on an excursion or a holiday,” Richter said. “They are not going to put them in situations where it may be dangerous or it may be uncomfortable, so this storm that popped up was obviously an anomaly. These vessels that carry passengers, they’re typically very well-maintained, very well-appointed.”

Built by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008, the U.K.-registered Bayesian could carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. Its nearly 250-foot mast is the tallest aluminum sailing mast in the world,  according to  CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters. 

On Tuesday, Italian rescue workers  resumed the search for Lynch  and the five other passengers still missing: Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife.

“The fear is that the bodies got trapped inside the vessel,” Salvatore Cocina, the head of civil protection in Sicily, told Reuters .

The Bayesian is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was one of the 15 people rescued Monday after it capsized.

“It’s extremely rare for a boat of this size to sink,” Richter said.

What’s not rare is the kind of storm that sank it , said Simon Boxall, senior lecturer in oceanography at Britain’s University of Southampton.

“People assume the Mediterranean is this rather calm and passive place that never gets storms and always blue skies,” Boxall said. “In fact, you get some quite horrendous storms that are not uncommon at this time of year.”

The president of Italy’s meteorological society has said Monday’s violent storm may have involved a waterspout, essentially a tornado over water, or a downburst, which occurs more frequently but doesn’t involve the rotation of the air.

Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorology Society, also said recent temperatures may have been a factor. 

“The sea surface temperature around Sicily was around 30 degrees Celsius [86 Fahrenheit], which is almost 3 degrees more than normal,” Mercalli told Reuters. “This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms.”

The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed to be a celebration for Lynch, who two months ago was  acquitted by a San Francisco jury of fraud charges  stemming from the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.

Prosecutors alleged that Lynch, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates,” and Autonomy’s vice president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain, had padded the firm’s finances ahead of the sale. Lynch’s lawyers argued that HP was so eager to acquire Autonomy that it failed to  adequately check the books .

Lynch had taken Morvill, who was one of his defense attorneys, on the luxury trip. 

Chamberlain was not on the Bayesian.

In what appears to be a tragic coincidence, a  car struck and killed Chamberlain on Saturday as he was jogging in a village about 68 miles north of London, local police said.

“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family,” Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, said in a statement .

Henry Austin reported from London and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com . More from NBC News:

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Search Resumes for British Mogul and 5 Others After Yacht Sinks Off Sicily

The body of the vessel’s cook was recovered while divers searched the hull of the Bayesian for passengers, including the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.

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By Elisabetta Povoledo

Deep-sea divers with Italy’s firefighter corps resumed their search on Tuesday for six missing passengers — including a British software mogul and his daughter — of a yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily the previous day.

Twenty-two people were on board the 180-foot British-flagged sailing yacht, the Bayesian, which was anchored near the port of Porticello, when it was hit by what witnesses described as a waterspout, a small tornado on water, during a sudden and violent storm.

Fifteen people who managed to get to a raft were rescued by the captain of a nearby sailing cruise ship. The body of the yacht’s cook, identified by news outlets as Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian Antiguan, was recovered on Monday. But several people are still unaccounted for, according to Salvatore Cocina, an official with Sicily’s civil protection agency.

Those still missing are Mike Lynch, a British technology entrepreneur; his daughter Hannah; Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Christopher J. Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Mr. Lynch was acquitted of fraud in a U.S. trial in June, ending a high-profile, decadelong legal battle against accusations that he had defrauded Hewlett-Packard when he sold his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett for $11 billion.

Mr. Lynch and the others went missing days after Mr. Lynch’s co-defendant at the fraud trial, Stephen Chamberlain, a former vice president of finance at Autonomy, was fatally struck by a car on Saturday while out for a run, his lawyer, Gary S. Lincenberg, said in a statement.

Prosecutors in the Italian city of Termini Imerese, east of where the yacht sank, are opening a formal investigation into the yacht’s sinking. Reached by telephone, the chief prosecutor declined to comment.

The search for the missing passengers began on Monday but was suspended late that night as crews found themselves limited to the bridge deck and items like furnishings “obstructing passage,” the firefighters’ corps wrote on social media .

When divers resumed the search on Tuesday, ships trawled the waters near the site, the corps said in a statement. The Italian Coast Guard also said in a statement that search operations were “continuing unabated,” with the deployment of helicopters. There was no evidence that gasoline was leaking from the yacht, the Coast Guard said.

The yacht was lying on its right side in about 165 feet of water, meaning that divers, working in pairs, could stay underwater for only about 12 minutes at a time, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the firefighters’ corps.

Divers were seeking a safe point of access to the vessel’s cabins. “Obviously, everything fell and the space is very tight,” Mr. Cari said, adding that the divers were having to remove obstacles, like furnishings and electrical wiring, that were “completely blocking passages.”

The firefighters’ corps said in a statement that it was impossible to verify whether people were inside the hull.

Mr. Cari said that several divers had been part of the search-and-rescue operations when the Costa Concordia, a cruise liner, capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, killing 32 people. It is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in modern Italian history.

“It’s like the Costa Concordia, but much smaller,” Mr. Cari said in a telephone interview, comparing the search operations. “In the Costa Concordia, we came across many obstacles but we somehow were able to overcome them. Here, the obstacles block the passages and have to be removed.” He added, “This makes it more difficult.”

Crews were also trying to raise the yacht, which experts will examine to try to determine why it sank. Until then, experts can only hypothesize what happened.

Karsten Borner, the captain of a ship, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, which picked up the Bayesian’s 15 survivors, said in an interview that when the wind picked up around 4 a.m. Monday, the Bayesian was about 490 feet behind his vessel. Once the wind wound down, he said, he could not see the yacht anymore.

“My theory was that she was capsized first and then went down over the stern,” Mr. Borner said.

Dario Boote, a ship structures and naval architecture professor at the University of Genoa, said: “Now I imagine that a whole series of lawsuits will be triggered, obviously to ascertain whether there is any responsibility, as always happens very unpleasantly in these situations.” He said, however, that in this case, responsibility might be hard to determine. “Clearly, only once the wreck is raised will we know more,” he added.

Several fishermen told Italian news outlets that they had witnessed a waterspout. Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said they were relatively common in the Mediterranean, though their occurrence and intensity are unpredictable.

“Until one actually forms, you can’t start telling people where it is,” Mr. Inness said, or “how to get out of the way.”

The inclement weather — with lightning intermittently streaking through the sky — made it hard to know exactly why the yacht sank. Col. Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said the agency had registered intense lightning activity and strong gusts of wind in the area at the time the boat sank.

The Bayesian had one of the tallest aluminum masts in the world, according to its builder, Perini Navi. “Having a tall aluminum mast would not make it the safest port to be in case of a storm,” said Andrea Ratti, associate professor of nautical design and architecture technology the Politecnico di Milano. The type of intensity unleashed by a violent lightning storm “could have created a significant shock wave,” he added.

He, too, cautioned that “a lot of questions will remain until we have other elements at our disposal.”

Modern yachts are built to withstand meteorological events of reasonable intensity, and all international naval registers suggest that new ships be designed for higher waves and more frequent and extreme weather events.

But “this seems a case of an unreasonable extreme event,” said Emilio Fortunato Campana, an expert in Naval Hydrodynamics at Italy’s National Research Council. “In that case, no ship is 100 percent safe,” he added. “I think the Titanic showed that nothing is unsinkable.”

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

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Home » Budget Travel » Sailing Across The Pacific: The ULTIMATE Sailboat Adventure! (2024)

Sailing Across The Pacific: The ULTIMATE Sailboat Adventure! (2024)

A freshly caught tuna sizzles in sesame oil. The Milky Way is so clear, you feel like if you just reached your hand a little further you might just touch the stars. Waves lap against the hull, and that’s about the only sound you hear.

This is how I remember sailing across the Pacific Ocean . Nostalgia hasn’t rose-tinted all the memories, though. There was still the maddening autopilot who gave up the ghost only twelve days into a month long passage (you little @#*!).

Crossing the largest ocean on earth by sailboat is no easy feat, but it brings with it an elation and joy that is unique to offbeat travel. No one can take away the fact that you did it. You crossed an ocean.

Now, what does it take to sail across the Pacific Ocean? Just a good floating tin can with some sails and enough coffee to kill a bear. 😉 Kidding aside, I strongly believe that with good preparation and training, anyone can learn to sail and cross the Pacific Ocean.

You just need:

• The best routes
• Some juicy inspiration
• Practical tools and tips to prepare your boat (and your crew)

And that’s where I come in! So let’s get into it – let’s get you ready to cross the Pacific Ocean by sailboat!

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Crossing the Pacific Ocean in a Sailboat – WHY?

• Sailing Routes Across the Pacific(and how long they take)

Oh, the Places You’ll Go (during your Pacific passage)

When to jump the pacific puddle (so you don’t die), what you will need to cross the pacific ocean by sailboat, faqs about sailing across the pacific, final thoughts on sailing across the pacific.

What kind of maniac dreams of sailing across the Pacific? What kind of person puts thousands of nautical miles between them and the nearest semblance of land?

The Pacific Ocean has been singing a siren song promising palm trees, balmy weather, and peaceful winds for centuries. You’re completely unplugged – so no damn Instagram! For many sailors – veteran and greenhorn alike – it is the ultimate, goldilocks cruising grounds.

“The principal difference between an adventurer and a suicide is that the adventurer leaves himself a margin of escape.” – Tom Robbins

To cross the Pacific Ocean by sailboat represents an accomplishment that no one can take from you. It is indeed an adventure of epic proportions. Long night watches, daily face-offs with the elements, fixing the umpteenth broken thing… it is no easy feat! But anyone with a little preparation and a bit of know-how can leave themselves a margin of escape.

With a little initiation into the trials and tribulations of boat life , a cornucopia of experience awaits the adventurer who sails across the Pacific.

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Sailing Routes Across the Pacific (and how long they take)

The sailor knows that there is no point fighting the wind. So, a successful passage across the Pacific depends on good winds. Generally speaking, this lends itself to an east-to-west crossing.

All good boat plans are written in the sand at high tide, so of course, there are some deviations from the popular route. But, there are still vague targets and timelines that guide your Pacific Crossing.

Sailing the Pacific Ocean from East to West – The Coconut Milk Run

From the moment Magellan stuck his nose out from Panama and declared it Mar del Pacifico , this is the route sailors have favoured.

Your trip can begin with a little visit to Panama , heading south to charge through the notorious ICTZ, and riding the south-easterly trades all the way to French Polynesia. Some will stop in and travel the Galapagos, others will charge on through.

How long does it take to sail across the Pacific from East to West? This passage can take anywhere from 23 to 40+ days in a sailboat.

There are variations on this Coconut Milk Run. You can set off from Mexico or Ecuador, for example. Maybe this is part of a larger circumnavigation and you’re fresh off a season in sailing the Caribbean or an Atlantic Ocean crossing.

You can go onwards to Australia and New Zealand, or get stuck in the South Pacific. Even going on to travel Southeast Asia , or India, are not out of the question for the brave circumnavigator.

Wherever your starting point is in the east, you will spend a month (give or take) without seeing land. Just you in your tiny boat-universe traversing the sea and the stars.

Sailing the Pacific Ocean from West to East

Call me lazy, but this is a hard slog. Nothing is ever impossible, but you’ve got to have some patience with the winds to sail across the Pacific Ocean from west to east. If the early Polynesian navigators can do it, though, so can you and your tin can.

The three main options for sailing from west to east are:

• The “Direct Route”
• The Roaring Forties
• The Northern Route

Ok, I lied – I would love to do the Roaring Forties passage! Anyway, this is not about Indi’s Secret Planning to Cross the Pacific Ocean Again. This is Serious Writer Business.

So, the Direct Route has the disadvantage of it being primarily upwind. But if you’ve got a well-prepared boat – and well-prepared crew – it can be fast and exhilarating.

The Roaring Forties has broken stronger sailors than me. How long does it take to sail across the Pacific from West to East? Well, It’s a long passage – 40 to 50 days . Extreme latitudes and rolling seas mean you need a well-stocked boat – and hardy crew. Also, the point of cruising the Pacific is usually balmy weather. There’s not a lot of balmy weather down there, mate. But if you can hunt around for the right latitude, it’s downwind sailing (yay)!

And then there’s the Northern Route. Basically, this is several smaller passages up through the Coral Sea, through Southeast Asia and Japan, and then across the Northern Pacific. An EPIC bucket list adventure if I ever dreamed of one! You can hunt around for good wind on this passage, but again, you’ll need a resilient crew and boat ready to take on the many nautical miles to be covered.

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If we look at a map of the Pacific Ocean, you’ll notice it’s mostly blue. On one side is the Americas, and somewhere over there is Australia and New Zealand.

But scattered across this great blue spectacular, are various incarnations of paradise on Earth. Oh, the Pacific Islands! You marvellous little delights full of genuine offbeat travel!

Sailing in French Polynesia

After travelling Panama, or elsewhere in the Americas, you’ll likely arrive in French Polynesia .

There are three main groups of islands. There are the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, and the Society Islands. Your first port of call after the big crossing is likely going to be the Marquesas.

The Marquesas are epic volcanic islands that tower over deep waters. There is some cheeky hunting and epic hiking here, as well as cheap baguettes. It blew my mind that in the middle of the Pacific there was cheap, French bread!

However beautiful these islands are, though, the stereotypical shallow, blue waters teeming with coral reefs are not here.

You must press on to the Tuamotus and Society Islands for that. I reckon you could get lost in the Tuamotus for a lifetime – as long as the freshwater doesn’t run out.

The world’s best scuba diving, spearfishing, and lazy hammock days are your juicy reward for crossing the world’s greatest ocean! Not too shabby.

Sailing in the Cook Islands

The Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is 2 million square kilometres! You can’t expect to know this series of islands intimately in just one visit. Still, good fishing, chatty locals, and picturesque islands make it worth sailing through. Travelling to the Cook Islands (and briefly becoming a mermaid) may be just what you need to avoid travel burnout .

Palmerston Atoll is only able to be reached by boat. It is a series of islets whose inhabitants can all be traced back to one man – William Marsters. Island time becomes more prominent the further away from continents you get. So by the time you get to Palermston Atoll, you can throw your watch overboard!

Throughout the Cook Islands, a slow tempo to living is the norm. Expect to chat lots with strangers, explore uninhabited islands, and wonder why you’d ever return to “normal” life. If I ever end up on the run, don’t go looking for me (or my mermaid look-alike) in the Cook Islands! 😉

Sailing in Fiji

As you continue your westward sailing across the Pacific, you will probably make a stopover and stay in Fiji .

Fiji is a bit of a crossroads within the Pacific. It is both Polynesian and Melanesian, and it is also home to a large Indian diaspora. While much of the Pacific escaped a strong colonial presence, Fiji did not. Along with its own kingdoms and chiefdoms, the British stuck their nose in and left a muddy footprint on Fijian culture.

The British chose the rainiest place in the Pacific as the capital of their colony – Suva. Because of course, they did. Suva will probably surprise first-time visitors – it’s fewer palm trees and coconuts and more traffic and nightclubs.

Suva aside, the rest of Fiji is as remote and gorgeous as you’d expect the Pacific to be. Sailing through Fiji is a reminder that the Pacific is as complex as the rest of the world – it just has more white sand beaches!

Sailing to New Zealand

If you make it to New Zealand, pat yourself on the back! You crossed the Pacific freaking Ocean – fuck yeah!

If you take the east to west passage across the Pacific, chances are you’ll end up in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The kiwis are pretty comfortable with their status as a Pacific Island. Along with the first real supermarkets on this side of the Pacific, there are familiar smatterings of Polynesian culture.

Dammit New Zealand, you’re pretty freaking sweet! Road tripping around New Zealand is bloody dreamy: the hiking and the mountains are off the charts, and the people are just so friendly! If there were ever a sticky place to tempt my wandering feet to settle down, it’d be New Zealand. Plus, the diving is pretty great .

Some sailors choose to sell their boats here. Some choose to slow down and spend a season working or exploring New Zealand. Eventually, most sailors have to move on. Travelling to New Zealand is a very special experience that will have most sailors scheming about how to get back!

Sailing to Australia

Maybe you bypassed New Zealand and came straight across the Pacific to Australia. Maybe you added crossing the Tasman Sea to your growing list of sailing achievements. However you made it, and whatever customs form you had to fill out to prove it, you arrived in Australia – the famed Land Down Under.

A pretty epic continent is bound to get under your skin. She’s bold, she’s beautiful, and she’s stinking hot! There are countless incredible adventures to be had in Australia!

Australia is less keen on embracing its geographical status as a Pacific or Asian country. It’s a whole different kettle of fish down under, mate.

There are sweet Australian road trips , and working opportunities abound for the boat bum. You can easily restock the cruising kitty for a season before continuing your sailing circumnavigation. There’s also a pristine and sparsely populated coastline good for nothing but surfing and sailing!

I reckon the reason you don’t see too many Australian sailors around the world is that they see no reason to leave their beautiful home.

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Danger is a relative concept. Crossing the street and driving a car is dangerous, but we all do it every day. Crossing the Pacific Ocean can be dangerous, but you can mitigate those risks.

People always ask me how bad the weather was at sea. Were there storms? They don’t ask about keeping healthy while travelling, breakdowns at sea, or navigation nearly as often. A storm holds a captivating spot in our psyche – and for good reason.

It’s worth remembering that your boat is probably stronger than you. You shouldn’t get into your life raft until you are stepping up into your life raft. Extreme situations aside, there are safer times to cross the Pacific! And more comfortable times too. So when is it best to sail across the Pacific Ocean?

The boat sinking storms are concentrated in hurricane or cyclone season. Luckily, these seasons are quite well known now. If you are in the South Pacific between November and April, your chances of a cyclone are high. But, come May, the odds drop to almost zero. Cyclone season in the North Pacific and the Caribbean is June through November.

With this in mind, the best time to sail across the Pacific Ocean becomes clearer. If you leave Panama around March , you will arrive in the South Pacific right at the beginning of the best cruising season. You will also avoid the cyclone season of the Caribbean.

There’s no point fighting the winds, man!

You need a sailboat that is stem to stern ready. You also need a crew that is in tip-top shape and mentally prepared for the long passage ahead. Realistically, anyone who is prepared can take on sailing across the Pacific Ocean. But what does it look like to be prepared?

The Trial by Sailboat – LIVEABOARD EXPERIENCE!

Before literally chucking yourself in the deep end by sailing the Pacific, why not rent the boat life? Try your hand at skippering a sailboat bareboat (without captain or crew) so you can stress-test yourself as a sailor. Sailo lets you do exactly that!

You can rent one of over 30,000 boats. If you’re not up to skippering your own boat, then kick back on one of the many catered charter boats on offer! You’re guaranteed to find something suitable and have a splashing good time in the best places in the world to sail.

It’s not the most hardcore jump-in-the-deep-end training for your Pacific passage, but having a taste of the boat life is probably a good idea! It’d be a bit awkward if you got halfway across the Pacific only to realise this whole boat life wasn’t for you.

Boat System Preparation

Being prepared to sail across the Pacific Ocean means knowing your boat at least as well as you know your smush buddy.

I like to remember that a day spent preparing in the dock is worth a week at sea. When you walk around your boat, ask yourself: how likely is this to break, and if this broke, could I fix it? Preparing systems and the backup systems to backup systems is all part of your preparation.

Ultimately though, you need to be flexible. You might not leave port knowing how to sew anything more than a button to your pants. But if push came to shove, you would learn real fast to mend your sail.

Knowing how to use both charts and electronic navigation is useful. Keeping in touch via the radio is also a useful – and fun – way of getting weather and gossip. Nothing says boat life like a radio crackling to life somewhere off the coast of Ecuador.

“Hola amigo, cual es tu posicion? Y cuidado con los monstruos!” It’s the first voice you’ve heard in over nine days that didn’t originate from you or your crew. It’s a comfort knowing there’s someone else out there also afraid of the sea monsters!

Essentially, being prepared is about organisation and organisation is about lists.

• Galley lists
• Maintenance lists
• Medical supplies list
• Weather lists
• Reading lists

Aside from adequate supplies, navigation and maintenance know-how, you need to have an adequately prepared crew.

Things go wrong on the road ALL THE TIME. Be prepared for what life throws at you.

Buy an AMK Travel Medical Kit before you head out on your next adventure – don’t be daft!

Sailing Solo Across the Pacific?

An adequate crew may look like just you, yourself, and you. That pun didn’t really work in the third person, but we’re rolling with it.

Sailing solo for long passages like that which is required to cross the Pacific is not unheard of. It is often the preferred way of sailing for old salts. And there is a certain appeal in the solitude of a long passage – it’s the ultimate growth at the edge of your comfort zone .

The biggest hurdle to solo sailing is standing watches. It’s hard to maintain a constant watch and get enough sleep. Usually, a system of radar alarms, twenty-minute nap alarms, and a dash of faith in King Neptune get the solo sailor to their next port.

Knowing yourself and what you are capable of as a sailor is alluring though. Because no matter how well you know another person, you’re always going to know them better (for better or worse) after a long ocean passage.

To Crew or Not to Crew While Sailing Across the Pacific

A big advantage to having two, three, or more, people crewing a Pacific crossing is the night watches. Adequate sleep is a severely underappreciated necessity! Being able to divide the days and nights into shifts means that everyone gets to eat better and sleep better.

But managing dynamics in close confines, far away from any time out spaces, is key. Your friend might be a perfectly competent sailor. When on land you notice that they chew with their mouth open and sometimes like to rant about how the world is going to end in the next ten years.

This is all good when you can leave the bar and have a break from them. All is good when you do small passages with them. But, when you’re in a small sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you may not want to hear about the apocalypse for the twelfth time in as many days while watching food entirely miss their mouth.

Vanlife has a reputation for making or breaking relationships. Sailboat life is essentially vanlife without the ability to go for a hike and ignore your partner for a while. There’s also the added dynamic of captain vs crew.

With good communication, sailing across the ocean with your partner can create an unshakable bond that transforms and solidifies your partnership. Without good communication, you might not ever want to see that dickweed’s face again.

So, to crew or not to crew? Personally, I think we’re stronger together than we are apart . I think that sailing across an ocean is a sublime experience that is made easier and more pleasurable when shared. BUT, you need to be honest and aware of the dynamics. Play to your strengths and be accepting of others – and your own – weaknesses.

Mama Moana has a way of humbling us all.

Boat Food is Good Food

To sail across the Pacific, you’re going to need food – obviously! 😉 Each boat will have different capabilities when it comes to storage and fridge capacity, so fresh food may last better on some boats than others.

After a month at sea, cooking is bound to get creative though. Add in the challenges of cooking underway and fatigue and you are primed to get creative in the galley!

Food is fuel and a happy gut makes for a happy mind. Things like lemons that keep well for weeks become a godsend. Rather than see food as a cumbersome challenge, think of it as a means for innovation.

I had a captain who learned to make his own yoghurt. Another who pickled their own foods. Every boat I’ve been on has had its own take on the one-pot curry. Skills like salting fish and baking bread become more accessible when you’ve got nothing but time on your hands!

Sailing across the Pacific is made easier with good supplies and a creative touch in the galley! If all else fails, high protein and high sugar snacks like peanut butter make the night watches go quicker!

Fishing While Crossing the Pacific Ocean

A way to supplement your supplies – and provide some entertainment – is to fish while underway. There are some great books and resources made by far better fishermen than me on this matter.

Typically trolling while underway is the method cruisers go for. Once sailors finish the Pacific crossing, having a spear gun or some fishing poles opens up a world of island adventures!

Let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like fresh ceviche!

The Tools You Need to Sail Across the Pacific

There is no way for me to write a succinct list of all the tools you need to sail across the Pacific Ocean. For every system on the boat, you need tools to maintain and repair it. But I wouldn’t want to leave port without:

• Good tool bag and spare parts
• Deck knife (my ever faithful favourite tool)
• Sewing machine
• Multi-tool (my secret second love)
• Solar panels

Staying Safe at Sea

Something sailors – veterans and newbies alike – tend to do is underestimate the consequences of danger. I guess you have to have a certain cognitive dissonance to cast off and not see land for over a month! Maybe it’s called getting old – or one too many close calls – but having insurance kind of puts your rational mind at ease.

You can release your wild side – but you’ve insured its dumb ass!

ALWAYS sort out your backpacker insurance before your trip. There’s plenty to choose from in that department, but a good place to start is Safety Wing .

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Books and entertainment

Even when on night watch, you need something to keep you occupied. Even between fixing and tinkering things, there is a lot of time when you sail across the pacific. Most sailboats tend to be dry while underway, so there aren’t too many opportunities for drug bending entertainment.

I would recommend downloading podcasts, music, and books GALORE. I personally found movies kind of annoying to sit through, but that’s just me — I know some sailors who smash through tv series like there’s no tomorrow on passage!

What’s important is that you keep your mind occupied. Plus, when do you get a month of uninterrupted learning in your adult life? Why not start learning a new language while sailing?

There are many good books to read while travelling . I think I powered through close to forty books in the first Pacific passage I was on. A couple of books good for the mind at sea are:

• This Old Boat by Don Casey . This is the handiest and easiest how-to fix your broken boat book that I’ve found. There are beginner projects that are best tackled in port, and advanced fixes that’ll save your butt once your in the middle of nowhere. Plus, it’s super interesting!
• Storm Tactics by Larrey Pardey . Pretty self explanatory! And an all round interesting read. In a storm at sea, luck is highly biased toward the sailor who has a plan. A series of user-friendly checklists will help sailors from the moment they start looking for their perfect offshore boat, through outfitting, and as they encounter their first storms at sea.
• Swell by Liz Clark . Captain Liz Clark spent her youth dreaming of traveling the world by sailboat and surfing remote waves. When she was 22, she met a mentor who helped turn her desire into reality. Embarking on an adventure that most only fantasize about, she set sail from Santa Barbara, California, as captain of her 40-foot sailboat.
• Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson . Begun in 1959 by a 22-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary is a brilliantly tangled love story of jealousy, treachery, and violent alcoholic lust in the Caribbean boomtown that was San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the late 1950s. It’s nice to escape the boat and fall into the drugged up party land of Hunter S. Thompson.
• At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell . Paris, near the turn of 1932-3. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the Rue du Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. No book is better suited to boat life than one about existentialism.

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Can you cross the Pacific Ocean solo?

Absolutely! Sailors have done it before and they’ll damn well do it again! The biggest challenge is making sure you get enough sleep while maintaining good watchkeeping. It can be hard to sleep at the best of times on a boat, but it can be done. Might just be me, but the sea monsters are kinda scarier when you sail alone too.

How dangerous is it to cross the Pacific Ocean?

Far less dangerous than driving a car or riding a motorbike. The dangers that you will face can be mitigated with good preparation. Storms are the easiest to prepare for. Keeping up your health – and sanity – when you’re halfway between nowhere and nowhere is a far bigger hurdle in my opinion. If you can heave-to during a storm, know how to fix the worst of what can break, and eat plenty of citrus – you should be on the right track!

How long does it take to sail across the Pacific?

Depending on the sailboat, the route that is taken, the wind, and the current it can take anywhere between 22 and 40 days. When I crossed from Panama to the Marquesas (sans Galapagos Islands) it took us 26 days.

Why do people cross the Pacific Ocean by Sailboat?

I was going to answer this glibly – we sail across oceans because land life got boring haha. But I think for every sailor who leaves port there is a different reason as to why they are doing it. There is an element of challenge, there are exotic beaches, and long stretches of contemplation. There’s also an element of faith in whatever you want to call it – King Neptune, Church of the Open Sky, regular ol’ God. Sure, you can be prepared and sure, the beaches will be nice. But every sailing trip requires an element of faith .

If the Pacific calls and promises fresh fish, palm trees, and island time – you’ve got to answer! And there is no better way to travel the Pacific than by sailboat. So do your stem to stern inspection, steel your nerves, and cast off to sail across the Pacific Ocean.

The crushed peach sunsets and clear, stargazing nights will reward you tenfold. There are dreamy island paradises scattered across the great blue spectacular and hefty continents on the other side.

Crossing an ocean by sailboat is no small feat. But every mammoth task is made up of smaller puzzle pieces that come together. It is something quite spectacular to crack a beer on the other side of the Pacific knowing that those nautical miles were earned.

Sailing is the ultimate slow travel. An odyssey of mythical proportions lies ahead of the intrepid sailor who takes on such a crossing.

Avast and fair winds, fellow sailors. I’ll see you somewhere in the South Pacific! 😉

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Indigo Blue

Share or save this post

Thanks! My dream is to sail the south Pacific.

Yeah I’m noticing water maker maybe more important than I thought… I’m just in land sailing 2-4 weeks between re supply missions lol … fuel , food and refill water is tough assignments often over loading my digny in the process.

Wow, take care out there!

Awesome read indigo thanks

Great article!

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Mike Lynch and daughter among missing after yacht sinks: What we know about disaster - and 'alarming' potential cause

The British-flagged luxury vessel named Bayesian was carrying 22 people when it got into difficulty off the coast of Sicily. Seven bodies have now been recovered from the wreckage.

News reporter @samuelosborne93

Friday 23 August 2024 12:24, UK

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Seven bodies have been found after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily.

Twenty-two people were on board the vessel named Bayesian when it got into difficulty in the early hours of Monday, with 15 people rescued.

Here's what we know about the sinking of the luxury vessel so far.

Follow latest updates on the superyacht sinking

What might have caused the sinking?

The British-flagged luxury vessel, named Bayesian, capsized at around 4.30am local time on Monday morning off Palermo, according to ship-tracking site Marine Traffic.

It sank in as little as 60 seconds with 22 people on board, 12 passengers and a crew of 10, according to the Italian coastguard.

Waterspouts, essentially tornados that form over water, were seen as powerful winds battered the area overnight, local media said.

The yacht may have sunk faster with all the doors open due to the hot weather, Sailing Today magazine editor Sam Jefferson has said.

"I imagine all the doors were open because it was hot, so there were enough hatches and doors open that it filled with water very quickly and sank like that," he said.

Official pictures show air conditioning units in several of the rooms, however, which could counter the suggestion open windows caused the vessel to sink faster.

The huge mast is also likely to have played a role, he added.

What are waterspouts?

Waterspouts typically occur during thunderstorms and can develop very rapidly, within minutes.

Their spin generally reaches wind speeds between 75-200mph, but can reach as high as 300mph.

They can travel at about 10-20mph typically but can reach greater speeds, making them difficult to avoid - especially in something as slow-moving as a yacht.

Matthew Schanck, chair of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, called the reports of a tornado or waterspout "rare" and "quite alarming".

"The vessel was at anchor in a recognised anchorage," Mr Schanck said.

"Depending on wind direction and the state of the sea, this informs the captain whether it is a safe area to anchor or not. There was nothing that was too concerning, for my eye. All in all, the captain used the information they had to make a safe call."

Who owns the yacht?

The yacht belonged to the family of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch. He was confirmed to have died after rescuers found his body on Thursday. Mr Lynch was on holiday with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who is still missing, and his wife Angela Bacares, who was rescued.

Mr Lynch, 59, was known as the " British Bill Gates " and has been in the headlines in recent months over a high-profile fraud case.

In June, a US jury cleared him of all charges, which were related to the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP). The yacht trip is believed to have been a celebration of the end of Mr Lynch's legal troubles.

HP accused him of deliberately overstating the value of the company before it was acquired by the American tech giant.

Mr Lynch was extradited to the US to face trial in May last year and spent 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco as he awaited trial on 17 charges of conspiracy and wire fraud brought by the US Department of Justice - which were later reduced to 15 charges. He always denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted.

Read more: Lynch's co-defendant dies days before yacht sinking

Who was on board when the boat sank?

The passengers were largely British and American, with crew members were from New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada.

Charlotte Golunski was among the Britons rescued. Her LinkedIn profile says she is a partner at Mr Lynch's firm Invoke Capital and has worked there since 2012.

Speaking after the ordeal, Ms Golunski told Italian media that she lost her daughter Sofia for "two seconds" amid the "fury" of the sea but was able to retrieve her. She said she held the infant above the waves until the lifeboat was ready.

"Many people screamed. Luckily the lifeboat inflated and 11 of us were able to get on board," she told ANSA.

The girl's father James Emsley also survived, according to Sicily's civil protection agency.

Also on board were Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of investment bank Morgan Stanley, his wife Judy Bloomer, a top US lawyer Chris Morvillo, who worked on Mr Lynch's criminal case, and his wife Neda Morvillo. Divers confirmed on Thursday that their bodies had been recovered.

The yacht's captain James Cutfield survived, along with South African crew members Leah Randall and Katja Chicken.

Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-Antiguan chef who was working on the boat, was the first to be found dead, the Italian Coastguard confirmed to Sky News.

During rescue efforts, divers saw "corpses through the portholes" of the wreck as they recovered the body of a man at a depth of 50m (164ft), according to Salvo Cocina, the head of the Civil Protection of Sicily.

What do we know about the vessel?

The Bayesian is owned by a company controlled by Mr Lynch's wife.

It was known for its unusual 72.3m (246ft) single mast - one of the world's tallest made of aluminium - and shared its name with the statistical method Mr Lynch's Autonomy software was based on.

It was built by Italian company Perini Navi in 2008 and last refitted in 2020.

It was listed for rent for up to €195,000 (£166,000) a week, according to online charter sites.

The luxury vessel , which was managed by yachting company Camper & Nicholsons, could accommodate up to 12 guests in six suites.

It won a string of awards for its design, according to online specialist yacht sites.

Mr Schanck, of the Maritime Search and Rescue Council, said the vessel would have been equipped with "high standard" life-saving appliances and radio communications.

He added the yacht would have met all international standards and UK Maritime Coastguard Agency regulations before its voyage.

It was previously named Salute, or "health" in Italian, when it flew under a Dutch flag. Its minimalist interior featured light wood with Japanese accents designed by the French designer Remi Tessier, according to descriptions on charter sites.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

What were its last movements?

The boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of "at anchor", according to vessel tracking site VesselFinder.

The Bayesian previously travelled to other parts of Sicily before its last sighting off the coast of the port of Porticello.

On Sunday, the boat was seen off the coast of Cefalu before it travelled towards Porticello, MarineTraffic data shows.

In the days before, the yacht travelled around four of the Aeolian islands, just north of Sicily.

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Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the sinking.

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Tropical Storm Hone moves past Hawaii as two other cyclones stay active in the Pacific Ocean

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Julie Walker

Associated Press

HONOLULU – Three tropical cyclones swirled over the Pacific Ocean on Monday, including Tropical Storm Hone, which brought heavy rain to Hawaii, Hurricane Gilma, which was gaining strength, and Tropical Storm Hector, which was churning westward, far off the coast of southern tip of Baja California.

The biggest impacts from Tropical Storm Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) were rainfall and flash floods that resulted in road closures, downed power lines and damaged trees in some areas of the Big Island, said William Ahue, a forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu.

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By midday Monday, Hone was 280 miles (450 kilometers) west-southwest of Honolulu with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (110 kph). It was moving west at 13 mph (20 kph).

“No major damage that we know of yet,” Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said. “No injuries that we know of at this point.”

One family had to be evacuated Sunday because of flooding, Roth said.

Four Big Island schools were closed because of power outages and flooded roads from Hone. Hawaiian Electric said the utility restored power to most customers who experienced outages. And state transportation officials warned Monday that the Hilo airport may be busier because of added flights to make up for weekend cancelations.

Julia Neal, the owner of a bed-and-breakfast located on a former sugar plantation in Pahala, on the Big Island, said she and some guests were “experiencing tropical storm winds and heavy pounding rain through the night.” She added that “Hone was also a gift in a way because we have been experiencing a lot of drought.”

On Sunday, floods closed Highway 11 between Kona and Hilo, and a higher-altitude alternative, the Cane Road, was closed by flooding as well, isolating properties like the Aikane Plantation Coffee Co. outside Pahala, where owner Phil Becker said his 10-inch (25-centimeter) rain gauge overflowed in the deluge.

“We’ve got quite a lot of flood damage, the gulches are running full speed ahead and they’re overflowing the bridges, so we’re trapped down here. We can’t get in or out,” Becker said.

Becker said his plantation is off the grid, powered with batteries charged by solar electricity, and his family is safe, so they have no reason to evacuate. The weather may even prove beneficial: “We’ve been in a drought situation so the coffee is probably loving all this rain,” he said.

The access road leading to the Big Island summit of Mauna Kea will be closed until at least Wednesday because of damage from Hone. Strong winds and heavy rain opened large cracks on the road, according to the University of Hawaii, which manages the top of the mountain.

Rangers helped 17 visitors who were stranded below the visitor information station by a large tree on Saturday, the university said.

Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for “sweet and soft,” poked at memories still fresh of last year's deadly blazes on Maui, which were fueled by hurricane-force winds . Red flag alerts are issued when warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers. Most of the archipelago is already abnormally dry or in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, with 102 dead. Dry, overgrown grasses and drought helped spread the fire.

The cause of the Lahaina blaze is still under investigation, but it’s possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds. The state’s two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, were prepared to shut off power if necessary to reduce the chance that live, damaged power lines could start fires, but they later said the safety measures would not be necessary as Hone blew past the islands.

In the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Gilma intensified Monday into a strong Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds at 110 mph (175 kph). Gilma was located about 1,160 miles (1,865 kilometers) east of Hilo, Hawaii, and moving west at 8 mph (13 mph).

Gilma was forecast to increase in forward speed, but decrease in intensity, the National Hurricane Center said. It was still expected to be a hurricane when it reaches the central Pacific basin on Tuesday.

Farther to the east, Tropical Storm Hector also gained strength Monday. Hector had top sustained winds of 50 mph (65 kph). It was centered about 1,125 miles (1,805 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja peninsula and was moving west-northwest at 10 mph (17 kph).

Roth, the Big Island's mayor, said residents should still be concerned about these storms. With the ground already saturated, additional rain could be problematic, he said.

“It's never too early to start protecting your house,” he said.

Walker reported from New York.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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