Bw-Enn-Crystal-Sky

On Jan 18, 2018, the crew of the "Stena Crystal Sky" rescued two American sailors from a damaged yacht in the Eastern Pacific. Don Spitler and Elizabeth Anderson, had planned a voyage from Cabo San Lucas to the Marquesas to the Cook Islands aboard their yacht, the "Jaunt". On Jan 18, while under way 850 nm southwest of Cabo, they encountered severe weather and suffered damage to their rudder and autopilot. They sent a distress text message to the Garmin inReach emergency call center, and the center contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard then used the AMVER vessel reporting system to identify the nearest participating merchant vessel, the "Stena Crystal Sky", which was about 240 nm away. The master agreed to divert to assist, and the ship got under way. When she arrived on scene, conditions were unfavorable for small boat operations, with winds of 20 knots and swells over ten feet. Her boat crew - Second Officer John Giffin, Third Officer James Hamilton, Third Engineer Shaun Reid and able seaman Alejandro Flores - launched despite the swells and safely rescued the two sailors. They abandoned the yacht at sea, and the two survivors remained aboard until the LNG carrier arrived in Balboa on Jan 27.