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Another boat abandoned after rudder failure!

So, last night some guys on a 53' boat in the racing division of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers...not a hardcore race, right?...lost their rudder near the Canary Islands, off Morocco. Crew doesn't think the boat hit anything. They were about 70 miles out.

Call for rescue/tow. Spanish tow boat rips the cleats off the deck. Guess they couldn't figure out a way to rig a bridle to tow (said they couldn't get a line on the mast either). Report says winds increasing to 20-28 knots, swell is hard to work in.

Boat is abandoned! Seven man crew couldn't figure it out, so they were whisked off. Boat's got a satellite tracker, so it can be salvaged.

Thanks, Jimmy Cornell, for opening up the world's oceans to sailors with itchy trigger finger on the EPIRB :-) Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!

http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/newsarticle.aspx?page=S633946596253542267&ArchiveID=1&CategoryID=71&ItemID=11870&src=

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