20 March 2014

In the past week I’ve looked at the possibility of chartering planes to do a search for Elsi and sounded out various companies who might have a vessel suitable for towing her if she was found. But, for most of the time it’s just been a case of waiting for news and
hoping that somebody has seen her drifting around.

The area Elsi was in is so remote and so vast that a plane search would only be viable if there was a sighting of some kind to narrow it down. There are no harbours for a hundred miles and it isn’t practicable to just go out to the coast and start looking. A lot of the
shoreline is inaccessible from the land and inhospitable and dangerous from seaward.

The wind over the past week has been predominately onshore and at times up to 60kts. All tending to push Elsi towards the shore.
The view from the Armada is that she has either sunk out at sea or been driven ashore somewhere onto the coast. Either way she is probably under the water by now. I was hoping to bring you some good news from Punta Arenas but the reality is that there is very
little chance of seeing her again. She has been such a big part of my life that it feels like losing a family member and it will be very different without her.

So, I have bought my ticket home and will be back in Shetland at the start of next week. I feel there is little more I can do out here.
Who knows, Elsi might turn up the day after I get back but I’m not holding my breath.

Many thanks to everyone again for all your good wishes, kind words and concern. I’m looking forward to catching up with many of you in the weeks to come.

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