The "blu: kat"
Due to a severe water inrush, the two sailors had left their catamaran "blu: kat" yesterday in the early hours of the morning about 550 nautical miles west of the Azores and boarded the life raft. They had previously made a "Mayday" call that was heard by a freighter belonging to a Norwegian shipping company. The 123 meter long "Wilson Narvik" rushed to the aid of the sailors and arrived at the scene of the accident around two hours later.
The last position of the "blu-kat" before the accident
The owner of the "blu: kat", Martin Ranft, with whom YACHT online had telephone contact in the meantime, reports that around three o'clock in the morning there was a very loud bang during his watch and that a lot of water had penetrated the starboard hull of the cat. Although the bilge pumps started working immediately, too much water simply ran into the ship. He would not have had a chance to localize the leak, let alone seal it.
He and his fellow sailor would then have decided to leave the ship and go to the life raft. A little later the "blu: kat" capsized. When the "Wilson Narvik" arrived shortly afterwards, only the port hull of the cat was sticking out of the water. The two sailors got safely on board the freighter, which will be calling at Algeciras, Spain, in a few days.
The "blu: kat" was on the way from the Caribbean to Sevill (Spain). The day before, there was still nothing to suggest the impending disaster. In the last blog on board the skipper wrote: "Shortly after sunrise it came, the wind that had been forecast for days! Direction and strength Ideal for our course to the east. In addition, little waves and“blu: kat”can work hard again. 6.5 knots and sometimes up to almost 9 knots! According to the forecast, it should stay that way - as always, we will continue to report! The “blu: kat” crew from about 500 nm off the Azores wishes you a nice May 1st holiday."
"blu-kat" owner Martin Ranft
The 59 foot catamaran was self-made by the German skipper Martin Ranft. He built the aluminum structure on Kret from 2004 to 2009 and equipped it for charter trips with up to six fellow sailors. Since 2009 the sailing area has been the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Caribbean.