Ryan to the Rescue
Last year Sailing La Vagabonde highlighted the humanitarian issue of migrant vessels in distress when Riley volunteered with a charity which charters yachts out of the Canaries to search for migrant boats in danger of drifting past the islands and to alert the rescue services.
A recent well-researched article by Elaine Bunting in PBO’s sister title Yachting Monthly explored the topic of encounters between cruising sailors and migrants at sea. These are sadly becoming increasingly frequent, particularly between West Africa and the Canary Islands.
Ryan (American) and Sophie (French) are a couple in their 30s who met in Stockholm. Inspired, in part, by the example of long-time sailing YouTubers MJSailing they acquired their Beneteau Oceanis 40 Polar Seal in 2018 and started documenting their journey on their channel Ryan & Sophie Sailing. Since then they’ve ventured up to Orkney, into the Med, and then on an Atlantic circuit via the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, the Caribbean, and the Azores. Contemplating a second Atlantic circuit, Ryan’s curiosity about solo sailing grew, and he convinced Sophie to let him sail Polar Seal from Lanzarote to Antigua alone. A recent episode talks us through his extensive preparations for this. Of course it’s impossible to consider all possible ‘what ifs’, and in Ryan’s case, a situation he appears not to have imagined is being asked by MRCC Las Palmas to assist in locating a reported migrant boat in distress
Making it more challenging, the request comes nearly two days into the passage, a point where many solo sailors report hitting ‘the wall’ of tiredness before adjusting to the new sleep patterns required for round-the-clock watch-keeping, and he is required to travel against the wind in a deteriorating sea state. The outcome is slightly less dramatic but happier than that of the thoughtprovoking 2019 film Styx, in which a solo-sailing doctor finds herself in a similar situation. While I commend Ryan for his actions, which very likely helped save dozens of lives, and wish all involved a quick recovery from the traumatic experience, my biggest wish is for an end to conditions which make people so desperate that these horrific journeys look attractive, and the policies that deny them safer options.
Watch the episode at https://youtu.be/ QUJKC4aROVU