Refueling in the Indian Ocean

After dismasting on the night between December 21 and 22, Global Solo Challenge competitor Ari Känsäkoski has had to weigh his options for reaching land for support.

With his position in the Indian Ocean, he’s had to fight the strong counter-current of Agulhas which was making the boat drift to the southeast rather than toward the best option of the African continent. After securing his broken mast to the side of the boat, Känsäkoski motored till after Christmas just to get himself out of the unfavorable current, though this used a considerable amount of his onboard diesel.

This posed more than a headache, as Reunion Island was 1000 nm due north, with Durban and Port Elizabeth approximately 1200 nm due northwest and Cape Town over 1400 nm, and the remaining 100 liters of fuel on board the Class40 ZEROchallenge defined the prospect of many days of slow sailing under jury rig.

Heading to the Crozet Islands around 300 nm to the south was discarded as an option given the Île de la Possession only offers a bay for anchorage and would have not enabled Känsäkoski to effect any repairs and would have added a further 600 nm, there and back, of uncertain navigation in the roaring forties.

Contact and regular updates with MRCC Reunion continued throughout. On the morning December 25, given how fast the fuel onboard had been used and how little progress was made due to the adverse current, and with adverse weather forecast for the following day, it was agreed in coordination with MRCC Reunion that a message would be sent out to any ship passing in the proximity of ZEROchallenge.

However, the remote waters that Känsäkoski was sailing did not produce any good news for over 24 hours. Luckily, on the morning of December 26, MRCC Reunion contacted the GSC and Känsäkoski to inform that the Japanese Coast Guard was relaying a message from a Japanese high seas fishing vessel called Tomi Maru No.58 passing, by mere coincidence, just 65 nm from Känsäkoski’s position.

The fishing vessel owned by Taiyo A & F Co under the command of Sachio Hagiya altered course and proceeded to Känsäkoski’s position at 12 knots speed and reached the scene at 12:47 UTC where there was a 3-4 meter swell and winds force 5 gusting up to 30 knots.

The sea state required maximum care to ensure the large fishing vessel, weighing 400 tons and measuring nearly 70m in length and 11m in width, would not come in contact with ZEROchallenge. Passing canisters back and forth, after a transfer of 200lt of fuel,  the operations were suspended for the night and resumed in the morning.

After transferring 300 liters of Marine Gas Oil, 10 liters of engine oil, and 10 liters each of Kerosene and Light Oil which may need to be mixed with to decrease the viscosity of the fuel used by high sea vessels, at 08:45 UTC Tomi Mori No.58 resumed their course to the southwest towards new fishing grounds.

Känsäkoski now has a total of 380 liters of fuel on board, plans are not firm yet as the fuel is only enough to cover approximately 600 nm, or a little more if the jury rig can be improved and the weather conditions are favorable. Certainly, the refueling operation has put him in a much better position as he will at least be able to sail further north and reach the belt of commercial traffic where further refueling should again be possible.

Attrition List:
DNS: Peter Bourke – Class40, Imagine
DNS: Ivan Dimov – Endur37, Blue Ibis
DNS: Curt Morlock – IMOCA, 6 Lazy K
DNS: Volkan Kaan Yemlihaoğlu – Open 70, Black Betty

RTD: Juan Merediz – Class40, Sorolla
RTD: Dafydd Hughes – S&S 34, Bendigedig
RTD: Ari Känsäkoski – Class40, ZEROchallenge

Race details – Entry list – Start times – Tracking

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge 2023-24 seeks to be a budget-friendly solo, non-stop race around the world. Using a pursuit format for the 2023-24 race, 20 entrants from 34 to 70 feet have start times between August 26 to January 6 from A Coruña, Spain, with the first boat to return deemed the winner.

Source: GSC