ATLANTIC ADVENTURE
‘There is nothing serene about being becalmed on an ocean’
On their first night at sea, a ‘dark shadow’ passed 100m away from Christian and Manuela Lücking’s boat. It was unlit and not moving. Unnerved, Christian Lücking called the Coastguard.
Two hours later, the Coastguard called back asking them to return and check the vessel. They found a wooden fishing boat, around 10m long, with a 40hp Yamaha outboard on the back. It was deserted and empty apart from a solitary lifejacket hooked on the bow. The Coastguard concluded that it had been packed with migrants fleeing through Mauritania, and abandoned after they swam ashore to one of the Canary Islands.
Shaken, the Lückings resumed their course, let draw and returned to the route being taken by the 84 crews in this year’s ARC and ARC+ rallies south-west towards St Lucia.
The Swiss couple class themselves as beginners in the realm of ocean sailing. Their Enksail Noordkaper 40, a pretty, traditionalstyle long keeled pilothouse cutter, custom built in steel by Dutch yard Gebroeders van Enkhuizen, was launched in 2018. Svala is a sturdy design, beautifully fitted out, designed to take its crew anywhere in comfort. Sailing double-handed on their first Atlantic crossing, the Lückings were not seeking any dramas.
But a day later, they picked up a Mayday from a boat ahead. The skipper said they were being pursued by a small motorboat. The Lückings misheard it as ‘persuded’ and were mystified, but worked it out when another ARC yacht just ahead of them
