MLManley

My relatives who were sailing in the Melemele Manu are giving up their dream of sailing the boat back. Their last attempt they goat out 200 miles and something to do with their masts broke off, and they lost their new dingy. And if that wasn’t enough they ran out of gas on the way back and had to be towed at a high cost. They have had to replace their mast several times, got broken into and robbed, and numerous other “bad luck” events. You can read about their last 2 years experience or so at www.melemelemanu.blogspot.com

For those who have been following, this was the latest entry:

January 30, 2010

The end of a dream has come. When a dream turns into a nightmare, it is time to end the dream.

We tried to sail across the Atlantic and failed. About 200 miles from Las Palmas, during the night, our two top spreaders on the main mast broke off, tore the main sail, and fell into the water. Without them, we could not use any sails.

We also lost our new dinghy as the waves tore the starboard trampoline and sucked our dinghy through.

We decided to head back to Gran Canaria to a marina on the south end. We motored for 6 days and ended up 40 miles from the marina when we ran out of fuel. Once again, we had to be towed in. Another costly trip.

We decided that sailing just is not for us. We will be heading to Las Palmas next week to find a broker to sell the boat. We will live on land from now on. We hope to head back to the states toward the end of February after we get the boat details worked out.

TTFN