Yesterday we told you about SA yacht, the Dandelion, which had been missing at sea for days since her departure from northern Mozambique. Local and foreign authorities feared the vessel and its seven multi-national passengers had been captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean. 2oceansvibe has just received communication from the boat’s South African skipper, John Sergel, explaining that the Dandelion’s passengers are safely back on dry land, and what the cause of their delay was.

The Dandelion’s South African skipper, John Sergel, writes in to 2oceansvibe

Dandelion arrived safely back in Pemba last night, to many questions  regarding our tardy arrival. The simple answer is bad weather, unfortunate technical problems and bad communications.

We left Mayotte late on Tuesday in reasonable weather and fully expected to be back in Pemba within 2 days. We had sent emails to my partner’s and crew’s family and friends, which it seems were never received. This  was part of the problem.

Unfortunately the weather turned bad…with the wind in the wrong direction and the sea like a washing machine and with no motors, as we were experiencing problems with the injectors…our progress was painstakingly slow under sail only.

When it became obvious we were going to arrive later than anticipated, we started trying to call  the radio network, but could only hear transmissions in what sounded like Chinese and though trying every day, just could not make contact. We also tried on vhf, and spoke to a ship at one point to ask for a weather report.

We finally spoke to an aircraft to find that there was a full scale search for us. Only later did I realise that the original emails  saying that we had injector problems had not been received by families etc.

I am so very grateful that we were not intercepted by pirates, but also very sorry that so many people – partners, friends, families and organizations  – were unnecessarily worried, and that our late arrival caused so much trouble.

I would like to thank all the amazing people, agencies and organizations that swung into action when we did not arrive – you were all incredible and my heartfelt gratitude to you for all your efforts. It is a wonderful feeling as a sailor to know that there are such dedicated individuals there to help.

My words cannot express how grateful I am.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to you all.

John C Sergel