Ghost boat

Serena 2015

Cruisers will tell the uninitiated that offshore sailing is statistically safer than golfing.....which strictly speaking, is correct. However, any offshore sailor who tells you he/she hasn't thought about the unlikely yet terrifying scenario of being caught in a storm far from help......is just full of shi*.

In 2012, we met a number of wonderful people and made several close "cruiser-friends". We follow these people through e-mail, blogs, and by meeting them from time to time in the islands. In 2012, no friends we made were closer than our Finnish friends, Arja and Henti (they appear in our posts from 2012). Serena (their boat) was a sturdy Malo 50. Arja and Henti themselves were very experienced sailors, having sailed Serena from Finland to the Caribbean, a trip certainly not for the feint of heart.

Arja and Henti, 2012

In the Spring of 2013, Arja and Henti began the long trek back to Finland in Serena, with two family members as passengers. Serena encountered a colossal storm of the Northwest coast of Spain in mid June. They battled 60 foot seas for hours but finally were broad-sided by a breaking wave which destroyed their cockpit and electronics- briefly washing both Arja and Henti of outside their boat............only being tethered in saved them. They reluctantly called for help with a sat-phone and were rescued by helicopter after an 8 hour wait (all were saved).

Serena was swamped, dismasted, and taking on water. Her cockpit was destroyed and her bilge pump not functioning. They assumed that Serena would soon sink. Across the Fall, back in Finland, Arja and Henti received a report of a freighter sighting a boat matching the description of Serena adrift in the Atlantic. Later, a French warship encountered Serena, boarding her and sending back some personal items (including pictures of the boat). Then around Christmas 2013, shockingly, Serena arrived in Grenada.......she had drifted from the Azores to the Southeast Caribbean across 6 months.

As Kirstin and I arrived in Prickly Bay, Grenada we anchored, looked to our left, and both shuddered. There not 50 meters away from us is Serena. Arja and Henti sold the boat last year and someone is clearly rebuilding it. We did a lap around Serena..........neither of us could think of anything to say. We've spent happy times on this boat and have thought a lot about the storm and what that must have been like. We are planning on dinghying over to Serena in a few days to show the new owners our pictures of Serena from 2012...............and maybe buying them a beer.