The ARC yacht Auliana II has been abandoned and the crew evacuated following the loss of the yacht’s rudder in the early hours of Monday morning.

Skipper Christian Potthoff-Sewing and his seven crew members were safely ashore in Arguineguin, Gran Canaria, late yesterday evening (23/11/2009) some 36 hours after taking the start of ARC 2009 in the IRC Racing Division.

The yacht is fitted with a Yellowbrick tracker, which is currently allowing the salvage crews to monitor the location of the vessel as attempts continue to salvage it. Although not good news, this demonstrates yet another positive element of Yellowbrick use for events such as this where salvage may be required. The Yellowbricks for the ARC were set at 6 hour transmissions - once the problem was identified, the Yellowbrick was remotely changed to 1 hour transmissions to give the salvage crews a more frequent position report.

More in-detail news can be read here on the World Cruising website