“The last log entry we found was for January 2nd 2009 [...] I think he had an incident on the 2nd or 3rd of January 2009,’ reported Rob Widdrington. Image courtesy of fotobesenicar.com (click to enlarge).
Jure Sterk. Image courtesy of cruisersforum.com (click to enlarge)
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Lunatic Piran, sailboat without a Captain
Posted: May 11, 2009 11:10 am EST
(TheOceans.net) “I went out on deck and there she was, just drifting along. Her mainsail was set but it was in tatters."
A 72-year old sailor from Slovenia, Jure Sterk, left Tauranga, New Zealand, in December 2007 on his sailboat “Lunatic Piran”.
He kept contact with amateur radio enthusiasts, but last reported in early January 2009. Thereafter the boat was spotted on the ocean, floating uncontrolled without a captain.
Crew onboard the RV Roger Revelle recovered several items onboard and will hand it over to authorities upon arrival in Fremantle, Australia on May 15.
Jure’s aim was apparently to become the oldest man in the world to sail around the globe non-stop and with the smallest boat without an engine.
He set sail to the East and his plan was reportedly to sail via Cape Horn, north around the Azores, back around Cape of Good Hope, around Tasmania, across the Southern Ocean, around the bottom of New Zealand and back to Tauranga.
In the beginning of this year Jure was on his last leg to New Zealand.
Account onboard the RV Roger Revelle
Henk de Velde who has been in Albany, Australia, the last week or two sent word to ExplorersWeb about an April 28 email reporting about the drifting sailboat on Seattle P-I reader’s blog.
Chief Mate aboard the Research Vessel Roger Revelle Rob Widdrington responded on the blog saying that he along with an A.B. boarded the Lunatic “I was able to recover some personal photos and what appear to be the 2007-2008 log and a new log book for 2009 that was located on the chart table.”
“The last log entry we found was for January 2nd 2009. The position written down for that day placed the Lunatic approx 500nm South East of where we found her.”
Rob also noted that there was no liferaft canister found on the outside of the sailboat.
The storm at the end of the world
When Jure rounded Cape Horn he reported a to his ham radio buddies that he was in a bad storm. Fotobesenicar.com wrote the following: “Jure survived very tough storm while he was sailing around Cape Horn at the end of February. It was his toughest experience on the sea. He successfully passed around Cape Horn with no bigger damage. Since he had extremely powerful gusts of wind only his anemometer failed.”
“Jure is now heading to South Africa, then he will turn towards Australia. He is doing well, he sails about 100 miles per day. Sometimes he gets opposite winds which slow him down.”
The following poem, written by Jure, was published on the site:
In the end of the world
Roaring sea
screaming storm
running mountains
bloody smoky battle field.
In the salty fog hidden
black rock from the sea
worst of the worst
the terrible cape, Cape Horn.
Jure Šterk
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