The crew of a catamaran taking part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) have been rescued from their sinking vessel by another rally participant after issuing a MAYDAY when approximately 300NM south of the Cape Verde Islands.

Published 11 hours ago

Statement from World Cruising Club

At 03:00 UTC on the morning of Monday 2 December, the Swedish Leopard 45 catamaran Karolina Viking issued a MAYDAY with a leak in her starboard engine compartment. In coordination with MRCC Cape Verde, the skipper decided to head to the Cape Verde islands under the port motor, approx. 300NM upwind.

The Karolina Viking was taking part in the 39th edition of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers which departed from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands on Sunday November 24, 2024 heading 2700NM across the Atlantic to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

At around midday UTC on December 2, another ARC participant Cinderella di Ranremo was able to rendezvous with Karolina Viking to offer support. Meanwhile the ARC catamaran Akula has diverted their course towards the rendezvous area as well.

The leak was coming from the area of the rudder stock base in the starboard engine compartment. There was some water ingress into other areas of the starboard hull. Later in the day, with the electrical system affected by the water, the skipper and crew make the decision to abandon ship and transfer to Cinderella di Sanremo.

All crew are safe. The five crew of Karolina Viking join the five crew of the 22.5m Jongert Cinderella di Sanremo.

The transfer of crew from Karolina Viking to Cinderella di Sanremo is a successful outcome to what has been a stressful and upsetting day for the owners and crew of Karolina Viking and we thank Gerald Smith and his Cinderella di Sanremo crew for their actions.

At this stage we have no further information.

World Cruising Club
December 2, 2024

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