ADRIFT

When his boat struck a reef and sank into the Caribbean, Don Cavers jumped on to a life raft and watched as the ocean carried him away

- Gary Stephen Ross

AT FIRST GLANCE, it seemed like a good deal: a 12-metre Ericson 38-200 sailboat for US$45,000 [₹ 36.8 lakh]. Named Starlight II, the boat was moored at the Puerto Velero marina near Barranquilla on the Colombian coast. Don Cavers, then 76, bought it in early 2021, intending to fly from his home in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, and test it out.

The pandemic made that impossible, so he didn’t actually see the boat until he arrived in Colombia near the end of that year. It was more weathered and rusted than he’d imagined, but his life of adventure, sailing and farming had made him a jack of all trades, able to fix almost anything.

Cavers and his stepson, Omar GaitanBurns, planned to sail Starlight 1,200 kilometres to Puerto Rico. There, Cavers would meet up with other family members. They’d all sail around the British Virgin Islands for a couple of weeks before the others returned home and he carried on to Miami, Florida. If he chose not to keep the boat, he thought he could probably sell it in the United States for more than he’d paid.

Cavers and Gaitan-Burns set sail from Colombia in late November. Things went smoothly until, two days later, halfway to Puerto Rico, Starlight’s electrical system failed: no light, no GPS, no auto-navigation, no way to charge devices. Cavers was unperturbed but GaitanBurns, alarmed, his phone almost out of juice, sent emergency emails to Cavers’s daughter, Annelise GrubeCavers, in B.C., saying they had no power and needed help.

She contacted the Colombian coast guard and gave them Starlight’s coordinates. A vessel soon found the boat and accompanied it back to the marina for repairs.