GOOD NEWS You’re in a tropical paradise BAD NEWS Your yacht’s been crippled by lightning and if you don’t get out now a hurricane will smash it to bits
‘None of this stuff is reliable now’
FOR many of us, being stuck in the Bahamas sounds like it might be rather desirable.
But for one British couple the prospect is a nightmare and now they face a race against time to escape.
Mike Beech, 63, and his wife Helen, 61, spent their £50,000 life savings on a yacht which they have been sailing around the Caribbean.
But then it was hit by a bolt of lightning which fried all of its electrical navigation equipment.
They now face a ticking clock to get the 38-foot Mistral Dancer up and running again before hurricane season, when a yacht such as theirs could easily be dashed to pieces.
Mr Beech, a former truck driver, said: ‘It’s really scary at the moment because all the other boats are racing back to the US to get out of the hurricane and tropical storm belt and we’re stuck here.
‘I have never seen an electrical storm like it. But we’re alive, because I’m not sure what would have happened if we had been on deck.’ The couple, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, had been enjoying the retirement of their dreams on the high seas until they were struck on March 23 while moored off a small island near George Town.
The lightning destroyed almost all of the boat’s electrical equipment. It will cost at least £36,000 to repair and it means that, for now, Mr and Mrs Beech are unable to move on.
They were getting ready to have supper when they heard an ‘almighty bang’ and saw a powerful flash, they said. While their insurance company is expected to cover most of the bill, they could still face costs of around £6,000 and fear that their retirement dream could come to an abrupt end altogether should their beloved boat be written off.
‘At first I thought someone had crashed into the side of us or something – it was that big a bang,’ Mr Beech recalled.
‘With it was this massive flash of white and blue light that just lit the inside of the boat up. It was like a flashbulb but 100 times brighter. Obviously it’s over and done with by the time you hear it. There’s no time to panic.’
Their GPS system, autopilot, depth sounder, speed log, and other electrical equipment have all been wrecked. But the pair fear their insurance company could decide to write the boat off altogether. ‘The guy who did the survey said, since an EMP [electromagnetic pulse] has gone through the boat, none of the stuff is reliable for ocean sailing now,’ explained Mr Beech.
He and his wife, an NHS midwife for 34 years, bought the Mistral Dancer in July 2018. They set off on a 35-day Atlantic crossing in 2022 and have spent the past year in the Caribbean.
‘As a small child, growing up on Trencrom Hill in Cornwall, I always wanted to go sailing across the Atlantic but never accomplished it,’ Mr Beech said. ‘Then we had three children and family life came first.’
Another challenge is that the couple’s visas are set to run out in a few days as well as their cruising permit unless they pay an additional £400.
They are yet to find out how much their insurance will cover but said that the local boating community in the Bahamas has been helpful and supportive.
And to help them get back out to sea, friends have launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe for £6,000.
To support the duo visit: www. gofundme.com/f/cruisers-savingmistralLast night the fund had already reached £2,500.