Any news of Sara Gamp?

[Roger Long]

I suggest looking at this quickly before it's moved off for new content:

CBS 4 Video (http://cbs4boston.com/local/local_story_299081616.html)

I haven't been able to find any news about the boat. If anyone knows, I would appreciate knowing if she was recovered.

I hope to be sailing like this when I'm this fellow's age although I'll try to do a better job of weather forecasting.

[Steve Paskey]

From CNN.com. I can't find news about the boat, either. Twas afloat when he was rescued . . .

Sailor, 74, rescued after riding out nor'easter

PROVINCETOWN, Massachusetts (AP) -- A 74-year-old sailor said being rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard was "the most fantastic feeling" after he rode out a powerful nor'easter on board a 33-foot sailboat.

Vincent Gillings, who has been sailing for 50 years, told WBZ-TV that he was knocked overboard during the Tuesday storm, but he was wearing a safety harness. "I never knew there was such force," he said.

Gillings, an American, started sailing the Sara Gamp from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, on Friday bound for Gloucester. After hearing from his worried girlfriend Sunday, U.S. and Canadian authorities starting searching for him by air and water.

The surface search was suspended because conditions became too dangerous during the nor'easter, which pounded the New England coast with high winds and 20-foot surf.

But the air search continued, and a Coast Guard jet crew spotted Gillings' boat around 8 a.m. Wednesday about 22 miles northeast of Provincetown.

A helicopter was dispatched and lowered a rescue swimmer onto the boat, Coast Guard spokesman Scott Carr said.

Gillings was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia and released.

His hometown was not available, but the boat's home port is in Virginia.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[ 10-28-2005, 01:06 PM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[mmd]

News of rescue from Wednesday Boston.com News here. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/10/26/coast_guard_locates_missing_sailor/)

[Roger Long]

He was only 22 miles off Provincetown so the lee shore was a danger. It was a tough boat, aluminum Colvin design, and the videos make it appear to being making some westing under a staysail and half of a blown out jib. He got into the breakers and sailed out so, if he hadn't been hypothermic and hallucinating, he probably could have made it on his own. As often happens, the boat could take far more than the crew.

Hopefully, someone went out and got a line on her. I’d hate to hear that the story ended with him losing his boat.

[Rick Tyler]

The video is worth watching. Vincent Gillings comes off sounding like an experienced, prepared, and careful skipper who knew the limits of his boat and himself. I hope he saves his boat and sails for another 20 years. Compared to stories like the one of the four divers off Belize trying to swim to shore, it was great to hear one of someone who understood what he was doing and was ready for it.

[Frank Wentzel]

A fantastic story! I hope, someday, to be half the seaman he is. I hope he finds his boat.

/// Frank ///

[pipefitter]

What a ride.Wonder what someone does for excitement after an experience like that. Looks like the boat was doing extremely well in the video. Was that the worst part of that storm in the video or was that the lesser part of it? I do know it looks much worse from on board than the video shows. I remember watching some around the world race where these sailboats had to get around cape horn before a certain time due to bad weather and seas and some didn't and the whole boats were disappearing under the swells and rolling all the way over and then by some miracle be upright again.If I recall,one of the boats were never heard from again by the time I had seen it. Wish I could remember what race it was but I saw it on PBS some years ago.

[ishmael]

The title made me think of that outrageously lightly built canoo, Sairy Gamp.

Odd how stories run. I met the conservator in charge of Sairy Gamp, one Spring afternoon atop a crest in the Adirondacks. The boat was out of display, but still perking along, if not in the water.

Twelve pounds I think, in the era of cedar and oak! Nesmunk was a little fellow.

But, a different topic, with similar names.

[Steve Paskey]

Today's Washington Post has a long story about Vic Gillings and his 3-day ordeal during the storm. Gillings sounds like quite a character: he's a former British bobbie and a Korean War vet. At 74, he works as a bricklayer and lives on a boat at the Gangplank Marina in DC, across the river from National Airport.

Still no word on the boat . . .

Washington Post story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102802138.html)

[ 10-29-2005, 06:33 AM: Message edited by: Steve Paskey ]

[Roger Long]

Someone on rec.boats.cruising figured out that it was about 80 miles south this morning. He could probably update that if anyone wants to go out and look for it :D

I was glad to see in the post story that the boat was up for sale. That should make it a bit less traumatic if it disappears. I hate to see these stories where an old guy loses his boat and it's all he has in the world, (probably because I expect to be one of those old guys someday).

[qm]

"Nesmunk" who was this nations first builder of super light boats and builder of sairy gamp was from Wellsboro,Tioga Co, Pa, which city publically honors him. I have great admiration for the man 22 miles out at 74. I aspire to be as well prepared. QMBob of the Adirondacks

[Frank Wentzel]

If I recall correctly, "Sairy Gamp" was built for Nesmunk(George Washington Sears)by Rushton.

/// Frank ///

[ishmael]

Yep, 99% percent sure it is by Rushton.

I kick myself. My girlfriend and I had a nice half hour with the conservator, and I'll bet she would have invited us for a private tour in the conservation area, the museum still being closed for the winter. To see Sairy Gamp without the distance of a museum display would have been special.

[Roger Long]

I heard from someone in Yarmouth NS that Sara Gamp came ashore there. Just goes to show that boats will float for a long time even without help from their crew.

I made some calls and confirmed that the owner has been notified.

Pictures (http://www.adamgrahamphoto.blogspot.com)

Tough stuff, that unmentionable shiny metal.

[StevenBauer]

That is truly amazing! :D

Steven

[ssor]

Tough boat and tough man!! If he could have stayed warm we wouldn't be reading this story. He probably would have told of being out in a bit a of a blow but everything was okay.
Double WOW!!!

[ 11-08-2005, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: ssor ]