Not entirely sure Yara... she said "Once in Auckland I'll be flying back" Also she said she would be switching off comms to Australia to concentrate on NZ, so not clear if she had actually reached there or not. I haven't heard anything since but she said she would keep in touch.

Bit strange that she hasn't signed off. Do you know which port she was headed to in NZ?

I presume Auckland, but I haven't heard back from her either, so here's hoping she's ok.

Someone on the forum raised concern for our dear French girl with NZ Maritime and I've had a call from them today to try to glean what they can about her plans. ..etc.
There is no knowledge of her arriving in NZ so now I'm really worried about her. Anyone on the forum who has also emailed her please email me if you have any details that might help.

Hmmmmm.....there's been alot of wind around nz for weeks. I.listen to nz radio as well. Been a few 90kph days and on windyty its been in the red for weeks. Hope shes ok

She sounded like she really knew her stuff but would she ventute into bad weather needing repairs?
I wonder if nz maritime will try to find where her emails came from.

They said they would

I got a recurring apprehension about this thread from the first post.

I have a feeling of being taken for a ride
.

^+1

I Wouldn't doubt the story one bit I have seen it before in the past. She may have arrived , packed her bag and jumped on a plane.....currently sitting in Nice chewing frogs legs and snails and telling friends About her experiences of traveling the world!

or she may still be 500nm away from NZ.

Or or she could be of the oz coast.

Or she could be at some island somewhere!

The boat she describes fits the story, mostly carbon fast French built cats

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sirgallivant said..
I got a recurring apprehension about this thread from the first post.

I have a feeling of being taken for a ride
.

I was also a bit surprised by "her" posts seeing that "she" was in a bit of strife and still had time and the connection [sat phone or ham radio?] to also post on two other threads without the drama of this thread.

sirgallivant's comment saw me re-reading all of her posts and comparing dates and times, somethings not right, that's for sure!

There are ham groups working cruisers out of NZ, why not speak to them, why this forum?

Comments about the weather also seemed to be brushed aside.



Had an extra thought, did "she" ever give anyone a Lat Long and course?

First thing I would have done with the problems described.

Why would she put her lat and long on a public forum. I certainly wouldn't.
I have passed on the last place she told me she was to NZ Maritime

She did give Lat Long and full log details in her second last post. She was doing 14knts in a damaged boat with escape hatches omitted during the build....heading toward some heavy weather.
She appeared to be single handing, and wanted to get to NZ for carbon fibre repairs. Lets hope NZ RCC finds her holed up somewhere safe.

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southace said..
The boat she describes fits the story, mostly carbon fast French built cats

There's nothing about a lost French sailor on nzmaritime website.
if it is a hoax I hope the person gets done big time. Trace the emails and fine them for it.
if it is actually real then I hope she's ok and if so she should let the forum know as it could mean the difference between nzmaritime spending 100s of thousands on searching for her.
Im really baffled why anyone would take a battered catermaran solo into heavy weather. I've been monitoring the whole area for a mate of mine who's sailing from Panama To Tahiti and that latitude and eespecially all around nz has been getting hammered with 100kph winds for weeks.

I've been re-reading all of her posts and comparing dates, times and distances and I often am prone to make mathematical mistakes so correct me if i'm wrong:

In her first post 27th June - she said she Left France end of Feb, and was 11 days away from Sydney. On the 30th she posted sheltering behind Drala.
So Fiji to Sydney is aprox 1,700 NM in 11 days would be 154 NM per day.

Secondly In four months or 124 days she traveled 10,600 NM, measured on Google Earth via the Panama Canal. If I add another 10 days (if she was near the end of Feb) thats 10,600 NM in 134 days, an average of 80 NM per day. Ive never done an ocean passage but given the doldrums and a rest day here and there, it seems she covered a lot of ground in that time? Doing 10 knots in a cat and covering 240 NM in a day is possible but to keep it up as a single handed sailor would be hard work.
Sadly, I do hope she is not out there somewhere between Fiji and NZ in an upturned hull waiting for rescue?

Did anyone think to talk to her in French? That might have produced some interesting results!

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saintpeter said..
Did anyone think to talk to her in French? That might have produced some interesting results!

Spot on"

Oh good, glad other people are thinking what I had been thinking for some time. For someone who had poor English language skills they were certain'ly better than some that I read on here, grammar and syntax were quite good I thought.

As for the Lat & long position reporting, anyone can write a set of numbers and say that's where they are, doesn't mean that that's where they really are.



If there was damage to the boat they way it was described it would have manifested itself long before 'she' reported it to us, why wasn't it attended to in the last port of call rather than risk the boat?

Not bad vernacular from someone that is French using Aus slang "The hulls did not suffer any damage as they are build like a "brick poo house"(I did not want to say ****)"

Not a mistake that a sailor would make "One more correction: I lost the genoa stay not halyard. One day I shall speak English."

It struck me as strange that internet connectivity was never an issue, even in the middle of the pacific. Sat phones are not cheap just to use for idle chit chat.

I have been conned by women before in my life, but I think she was genuine. This is a high performance cat, and reading between the lines, the lady appears to be an A type personality.

If you can afford a $million boat, I dont think you would be fussed about sat phone costs.

After a rapid long passage single handed, you would be tired, and could have clouded judgement. Also, getting this far, you could be lulled into a false sense of security about the capabilities of both boat and skipper.

The thing is with con artists is that theyre all about details. This is how they convince people.
con artists get a kick out of it.
i agree Loose change regarding her spelling etc. I feel the spelling mistakes etc were done on purpose. If you read the messages they're pretty easy to understand.

The the whole thread reminds me of someone who was on here who got a kick out of stirring people and had all the details and the terminology down pat.
Somethings fishy. Still. I'd rather this than hear of someone lost at sea. That's heartbreaking...don't like to be bullshtted though but oh well.its the Internet.

Well, the language it (he or she) used does not come up to scratch with a French person willing to learn English. I visited France dozens of times and thought English to migrants within TESOL. The language LJ? used had no frankofile tone to it at all.

The sailing part also leaves something to be desired, imo.
According to my limited internet search there is no trace of anything like.

I dismissed the whole thread after the first post on a gut feeling and l re-read it this morning just out of boredom. I have the same apprehension about it now, than l had when l first read it.
In case l am profoundly wrong, l apologize beforehand but my forebodings seldom proved wrong, yet.
After all l was labelled to be an emotional person!

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sirgallivant said...
Well, the language it (he or she) used does not come up to scratch with a French person willing to learn English. I wisited France dozens of times and thought English to migrants within TESOL. The language LJ? used had no frankofile tone to it at all.

The sailing part also leaves something to be desired, imo.
According to my limited internet search there is no trace of anything like.

I dismissed the whole thread after the first post on a gut feeling and l re-read it this morning just out of boredom. I have the same apprehension about it now, than l had when l first read it.
In case l am profoundly wrong, l apologize beforehand but my forebodings seldom proved wrong, yet.
After all l was labelled to be an emotional person!

Her posting were only spasmodic at best anyway, and it has only been a week since her last post. Maybe she is busy with her repairs. But I am in the doubters camp.

I have asked Laurie to look into it a little further as it seems her IP address has been used in the last few hours.

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Yara said..
I have been conned by women before in my life, but I think she was genuine. This is a high performance cat, and reading between the lines, the lady appears to be an A type personality.

If you can afford a $million boat, I dont think you would be fussed about sat phone costs.

After a rapid long passage single handed, you would be tired, and could have clouded judgement. Also, getting this far, you could be lulled into a false sense of security about the capabilities of both boat and skipper.

I could put more detail from her emails to me on here but choose not to. Suffice it to say, I agree with Yara... A type personality.. . very tired and clouded judgement. I believe her. I think she underestimated the Tasman Sea.

I'm worried about her to the point I am sick in the gut and can hardly eat.

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Yara said...
She did give Lat Long and full log details in her second last post. She was doing 14knts in a damaged boat with escape hatches omitted during the build....heading toward some heavy weather.
She appeared to be single handing, and wanted to get to NZ for carbon fibre repairs. Lets hope NZ RCC finds her holed up somewhere safe.

I looked at those Lat and longitude it didn't quite fit so never went back on this thread
Plus a damage boat of any sort when your at the back of Fiji resting if putting in shore beach it and really check all damsge

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Toph said...
Her posting were only spasmodic at best anyway, and it has only been a week since her last post. Maybe she is busy with her repairs. But I am in the doubters camp.

I have asked Laurie to look into it a little further as it seems her IP address has been used in the last few hours.

IP address probably from geelong...

Que Sera, Sera, whatever will be will be, I think that pretty much sums up my opinion.

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Sectorsteve said..

Toph said...
Her posting were only spasmodic at best anyway, and it has only been a week since her last post. Maybe she is busy with her repairs. But I am in the doubters camp.

I have asked Laurie to look into it a little further as it seems her IP address has been used in the last few hours.

IP address probably from geelong...

With a situation like this It's important to be sure.........and if it proves to be from Jeelong then a big kick up the kyber should be delivered in no uncertain terms to the protagonist. I stayed away from the thread because of the "French chick Ozzy bloke dog's eye dead horse dynamic" but at the "missing person's bit" I was a bit concerned that someone might be in strife at sea. I hope the IP address is followed up and we are kept informed.

Hope I haven't also added to any of "her" problems and if I am also barking up the wrong tree, apologies in advance.

But can't help thinking Fiji, did we have a problem with going to Fiji some time ago