Of course, that one sounded fishy from the get-go, but the story - at least as it has been played out in cyberspace - just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser...

Evans posted this the other day on SA, a link to a post from someone who claims to be the owner of CELADON on the Cruisers & Sailing Forums:

"I am the owner of the S/V Celadon (1992 Beneteau First 45f5) and she is still afloat at sea as confirmed early this morning, 18 days after being abandoned...

I can't begin to express how utterly frustrating and sickening it feels to not have been onboard at the time and been able to bring her safely back to port, or continue on to her initial destination in St. Thomas. She's a very solid boat, having been sailed extensively in the Pacific and the last four years in the Chesapeake Bay. On the West Coast, I sailed her in 20-30 ft. seas and winds gusting to 40+, and she handled beautifully. Prior to leaving on this trip, where I had intended to spend five months in the Caribbean, Celadon was nearly completely re-done from stem to stern and everything from the wind vane all the way to the bottom of her keel. I'll be happy to provide some additional details, as there is a lot of speculation in all the posts in this thread as to what may have happened. She was also surveyed (both hull and rig) a week before departure and received a clean bill of health. Most of the running rigging had been redone in the last month. Everything below the waterline had been significantly upgraded in the past eighteen months--Heavy Duty Groco Seacocks all-around and the bottom was stripped, additional layers of fiberglass added and three coats of barrier coat and bottom paint.

As for the comments about Keel Bolts, all of them were inspected by the surveyor and myself and all were in perfect condition--they were dry and painted-over and did not show any signs of rust or fracturing or anything that would signal a potential failure whatsoever.

Celadon had a brand new bilge pump installed a week before departure and it was fully tested along with the manual pump in the cockpit, both of which worked very well. She was always a dry boat--the only water I ever got in the bilge would be a cup or two resulting from rain coming down the mast.

As for safety equipment that I noted some discussion, she had the full complement of flares, lifejackets, etc. and a liferaft that was one week old. There was an EPIRB left onboard (but not activated) and a SPOT tracking device that was taken when the boat was abandoned. Perhaps this is what has proved ultimately the most frustrating to me since if the EPIRB had been activated and lashed to the deck or the SPOT device left onboard, I could have had a vessel tow her in and I'd still have my $300K boat and property rather than facing the reality of not only losing her and extensive gear, but only being able to recover a fraction through insurance.

Hopefully I've been able to answer some of the questions/speculation. I'll probably never really know what actually did or did not happen out there, but you can surely appreciate why it is such a mystery to me given all that was done to keep her in top shape and, in many ways, significantly upgraded from her original specs and equipment.

Fair Winds... "

Later on in that thread it was indicated that the delivery skipper was from Oklahoma, had been "pre-paid" for the delivery, and subsequent efforts by both the owner and insurance company to contact him have been in vain, as apparently both he and his crew have now "left the country"...

Then, some pit bull with an apparent agenda/vendetta registers on the forum, and posts some information about the owner and his alleged business dealings and recent sale of his company, allegations regarding the employees' "improper access to President Obama's passport application", blah blah, blah...

Now, it appears the entire thread has been pulled... At any rate, I've never registered for that forum, but I was able to read it earlier, but now can no longer pull it up...

Weird one, for sure...

best regards,

Jon