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The Story Of Venture II - Part Two

Southampton to Hamburg

Monday October 12th

Two weeks after the boat show in Southampton, we set out in Venture II for Hamburg. We got underway early in the morning to catch the best of the tide up the English Channel to Dover. We were lucky with the weather, and it was fine and sunny as we passed by famous Beachy Head with its soaring cliffs of white chalk.

As we approached Dover we could see the coastline of France low on the horizon. We called harbor control just as the sun was setting and the triple lights at the entrance switched from red to green. We went first to the fuel dock where we topped off the tanks with red diesel. Britain is the only country in the European Union allowed to sell red diesel for marine use and it is important to retain the receipts. The red color denotes the rate at which the fuel is taxed. We went ashore on a chilly evening for an excellent meal. I had Dover sole which seemed to be especially appropriate considering we were in Dover.

Tuesday 13th

The following morning we slipped the lines at 0630 just as dawn was breaking. The English Channel is a super highway for shipping with traffic moving east/west in strictly controlled traffic lanes monitored from both the British and the French sides of the Channel as well as being patrolled by aircraft. When transiting between the British Isles and Europe your heading - not your course over the ground - must be at right angles to the east/west shipping lanes. Separation zones divide the lanes and every vessel is tracked.

Once again the weather was clear and we had little trouble threading our way between the ships passing up and down the Channel at speeds as high as 26 knots. Once out of the Separation Zones we turned Northeast into the inshore zone allocated for vessels not exceeding 20 meters in length.

We had not gone far before we were intercepted by a business-like French Customs launch, who asked us to reduce speed to 5 knots while they asked us a lot of questions over the radio. The sea had started to get lumpy and we had stuff flying all over the place as the stabilizers cannot do their job at such a low idle speed. After about 10 minutes they gave us permission to proceed.

We were now in a new separation zone which followed the coast of Europe all the way north to Hamburg and beyond. The wind began to increase which kicked up the seas. Being less than 20 meters we made sure that we avoided the main shipping lanes and kept to the designated inshore areas. A brilliant sunset painted the sky and as night fell we were feeling our way through a bewildering mass of lights and flashing beacons. This was not too difficult with the aid of electronic charting systems and AIS but negotiating the arteries of Europe required intense concentration.

We received a radio call from the Dutch Coastguard telling us that we had infringed the traffic rules because we had exceeded the length allowed for using the small vessel inshore channel. Venture is actually 19.8 meters but we believed that our AIS was broadcasting our length 20 meters so we could not understand why they had accused us of being oversized.

We decided to stop for the night at the Dutch port of Scheveningen and did not get in until just before 9 pm. The harbor was very secure being in effect an inner harbour deep within an outer harbor but we could not find any space to tie up. Eventually we rafted alongside a steel fishing boat and hoped that he would not want to leave harbor at some ungodly hour in the morning.

Wednesday 14th

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and the guy on the next boat was very helpful. He confirmed our weather information that the weather was forecast to deteriorate significantly on Friday so we were anxious to get going. We got underway at 0930 with the skies blue and seas calm.

After the call from the Dutch coastguard we decided we had better abandon the inshore route and join the big ships out in the Separation Zone. Some of these ships had a draft of 21.5 meters (70') and were traveling at speeds between 10 and 26.5 knots. We were running around 10 knots. Around 15 kms offshore, off the town of Ijmuden, we passed by a wind farm shown on the chart as being under construction. There were 60 huge modern windmills in this farm with an additional 36 off to starboard.

The wind began to increase and at 1720, when we were 10 miles offshore, a very smart Dutch Kustwacht (Coastguard) launch showed up and looked us over. They stopped a short distance away and lowered a black rib which sped towards us over the choppy seas. They came alongside and boarded through the side gate. They were very professional, shook hands with everyone, and removed their wet gear and boots before entering the salon. They said they had come about our violation of the rules concerning the inside waters the previous day. We explained that we were in fact just under 20 meters and showed them the registration certificate conforming the length at 19.8 meters. They said that the shoreside station that had reported us had told them that the length according to our AIS was 25 meters. After examining our documentation they conceded that we had not in fact violated the traffic rules but we had better get our AIS checked. Had we been guilty of the violation the fine would have been 700 Euros! They asked about the red diesel we had and I was asked to show the receipts to prove we had purchased it in Dover. After twenty minutes on board they departed with handshakes all round and best wishes for success at the Hamburg and Dusseldorf shows.

Subsequent checking confirmed that our AIS was indeed broadcasting our length at 25 meters. During set up, the location of the antenna from the bow and from the stern has to be entered into the AIS unit and it is important that the sum of these two dimensions does not exceed the actual length of the vessel especially if, as in our case, that length was close to the critical point of 20 meters at which many of the rules and requirements change.

Shortly after their departure the color drained from the sky and we were in for a rough night. The wind increased right on the nose with gusts of 32 knots so we had nasty head seas which, in the relatively shallow North Sea, are short and steep and we were still out in the main Separation Zone with the big ships. However, we had not finished with the authorities and were buzzed by a helicopter just before midnight which circled us twice and shone its powerful lights on us. We have no idea who they represented as they did not contact us. There were stars overhead and a crescent moon hung above the horizon. If not for the wind it would have been a perfect night but it seemed very long and, when dawn crept above the horizon ahead of us, it was a very welcome sight.

Thursday 15th

Around 0830 we entered the estuary of the River Elbe and headed for the marina at Cuxhaven where we had planned to stop for the rest of the day but no one answered our call and, as Venture looked a bit too big for the spaces available, we decided to continue the remaining 50 miles upstream to Hamburg.

The river was quite wide with great numbers of modern windmills all along both banks which were flat and featureless. A few miles upstream on the port side we saw the entrance to the Kiel Canal leading through to the Baltic and through which I passed in a Fleming 55 in the summer of 1992 en route to Norway.

We were fortunate to have a strong flood tide pushing us upstream at almost 12 knots and, as the river narrowed, we gained progressively more shelter from the full force of the wind. The sun was shining and the approaches to the city were impressive with beautiful houses lining the northern shore surrounded by fall colors. An escort of black-headed gulls, already in their winter plumage, wheeled behind the boat darting down to the surface to snatch tasty morsels churned up by our wake from the brown water.

The south shore was largely commercial with tugs moving a freighter out of a dry dock while to port and ahead of us, as the river curved to starboard, the spires of churches and modern structures reached towards the sky.

After thirty hours underway at an average speed of 10 kts, we arrived in Hamburg at 1430 tired but relieved to have reached our destination. We tied up in the marina at Sandorhoft in the very center of the city. We look forward to being here more than two weeks not only for the boat show, where Venture II will be the largest power boat in the in-water section, but also for the opportunity to explore this interesting and vibrant city.

Tony Fleming: Back in Alaska on Venture

Tony Fleming, the founder of Fleming Yachts, is one of the most experienced, and capable, cruising people I know. Over the years, Tony also has developed a worldwide following for the writing, photos and videos based on his voyages on Venture , his personal Fleming 65. Here’s his latest, starting in Auke Bay, near Sitka, Alaska.

June 24th Friday

We arise just after 0600 and leave for the fuel dock at 0735. We take on 475 usg @ $5.52 per gallon. We depart Auke Bay fuel dock at 0810. We pass the small town of Hoona which has three cruise ships moored at its docks. We also notice new facilities such as a cable car with gondolas rising high up into mist-shrouded mountains and what has been billed as the fastest zip line in the world. We continue past Hoona into Port Frederick and anchor in the North Bight of Neka Bay. During the day the clouds dissipate and turn into a beautiful evening with distant peaks reflected in still waters.

June 25th Saturday

Up anchor 0833. We retrace our route out of the anchorage and over the glassy waters of Port Frederick towards Hoonah.

(Seen below: Drone shot of Venture underway in Frederick Sound.)

Chris suggests this would be a good opportunity for a drone shot of Venture proceeding through mirror still waters but the surface is ruffled by the time the drone takes to the air. We have cell phone coverage off Hoona but not sufficient to connect to the internet. We turn left into Icy Strait and need to cross to the other side to stay out of the way of a small cruise ship. We have distant views of the magnificent coastal mountains. We pass Lemesurier Island and are heading for Dundas as our evening’s destination when Chris suggests we take advantage of the rare calm conditions and head instead to Lituya Bay.

After some discussion we decide to at least take a look at the sea conditions in the Gulf.  We could already just see Cape Spencer light house in the distance through binoculars. So…. sharp left turn into Cross Strait and we head towards the open waters which are already within line of sight from our present position. When we reach the open sea, the sky is a clear blue but the wind is gusting to 20 knots from the north-east – our direction of travel!

We decide to proceed but we will arrive too early at the tricky entrance into Lituya Bay some forty miles away so we turn into Dick’s Arm which appears on the chart to be dramatically narrow with steep contours on either side. It turns out to be a lovely spot extremely peaceful compared the boisterous conditions outside its narrow rock-strewn entrance.  We anchor at the end of the inlet and enjoy an early afternoon tea while we wait so that we will arrive off the entrance to Lituya bay at around slack water at 2200. On the way back out of the Dicks Arm we spot a mother brown bear with two cubs. One stood up to get a better view of us but his mother paid us no attention and continues browsing on sedge grass.

(Seen below: Mother brown bear with cub in Dick’s Arm inlet.)

The weather is against us and the seas are choppy with volumes of wind-blown spray hurling itself against the windshield. A commercial fish boat also heading north behind us calls on radio. He is heading to Valdez in Prince William Sound so he has a long way to go. The coastal mountains are staggeringly beautiful and dominated by Mount FaIrweather which rises 15,300 feet straight up from the sea.

We pass LePerouse glacier – named after the French Admiral who in 1786 suffered a calamity in Lituya Bay. It is hard to stop taking photos and video. Finally we arrive off the entrance to Lituya Bay marked by a couple of conical hills named The Paps. The seas are somewhat rough and the far range marker is not visible but we have no problems following the course on the chart. We drop anchor at 2200 just ahead of sunset officially listed at 2223. Read more:

https://www.flemingyachts.com/tonys-adventures/venture-blog-2-from-auke-bay-to-close-by-sitka?fbclid=IwAR2pQokZzpY7_Eb-WOGg4inBxPwjFd1eZ0kbyjVblpJxnOdutJqqkFGXVvc

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Everyone from the sunken yacht off Sicily has now been accounted for

Bill Chappell

Dive and recovery teams searched for a final missing person off Porticello harbor near Palermo on Aug. 22, three days after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank. ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption

Italian authorities say the bodies of all seven people who died after a sailing yacht sank on Monday have now been recovered. The final discovery was announced on Friday; the other six bodies had been found after the calamity.

Tech mogul Mike Lynch is among the people whose bodies were recovered from the sailing yacht, called Bayesian. The massive yacht sank in a violent storm along the shore of Sicily early on Monday.

Italian divers on Friday recovered the body of Lynch’s daughter Hannah, 18, who was the last person unaccounted for.

Lynch’s body was identified on Thursday, according to The Associated Press and other news outlets, citing the Italian coast guard. The agency did not immediately respond to messages from NPR.

The sea rescue operation included 123 dives, according to the Italian fire brigade . Robotic craft have also been used in the search.

Local newspaper Giornale di Sicilia reports that Lynch’s daughter, Hannah, 18, is believed to be the only remaining missing person from the calamity.

15 people survived the catastrophe

Bayesian, with a length of more than 180 feet, had 22 passengers and crew aboard when it sank in the pre-dawn hours of Monday morning. Eyewitness accounts cited a waterspout — a highly localized spiraling storm that’s essentially a marine tornado. One body was found, and 15 survivors made it to safety. That left six people unaccounted for.

Since then, the Italian Coast Guard has been working to find survivors -- and as time passed, what started as a rescue effort became a recovery operation to retrieve bodies from inside the sunken ship.

The Palermo Coast Guard told NPR that the operation has been complicated by the depth and position of the hull, which lies on the seabed at a depth of around 50 meters, about a half-mile from the port in Porticello, Sicily.

Who were the missing people?

The six passengers who had been unaccounted for include Lynch and his daughter, along with Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife. Judy. A lawyer for Lynch named Chris Morvillo, and his wife, Neda, were also missing in the days after the yacht sank.

One member of the crew -- Recaldo Thomas, the yacht’s chef -- also went missing. Local news reports have suggested it was Thomas’ body that was found soon after the ship sank.

Who survived the sinking?

Survivors include Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, along with Charlotte Golunski, who works at Invoke Capital, Lynch’s venture capital firm. Golunski was on the ship with her daughter, Sofia, who had just celebrated her first birthday.

In an interview with La Repubblica , Golunski said that as the ship sank, she used all her strength to hold her arms above water and prevent Sofia from drowning. Sofia’s father was also onboard and survived.

Ayla Ronald, a lawyer who worked on Lynch’s fraud case, and her partner also escaped the wreck. Other survivors include several crew members, including two women in their early 20s who were part of the ship’s staff.

Who was Mike Lynch?

Lynch, 59, was the founder of Autonomy, a search engine and software company. Hewlett-Packard bought Autonomy for $11 billion in 2011, but Lynch then faced accusations — and then federal fraud charges — that he had misrepresented his company’s financial health and prospects. Lynch denied the claims, saying HP was blaming him for its own problems.

This past June, a lengthy trial in San Francisco ended with Lynch’s acquittal of all charges against him , after he testified on his own behalf. The sailing voyage along the coast of Sicily has been portrayed as a celebration of the end of the court case.

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