Yacht captain missing from own boat

Apr 10, 2020 by Lucy Chabot Reed

Capt. Bob Peel, a longtime yacht captain, has gone missing. Living and cruising aboard his personal vessel, the 54-foot (16.5m) S/Y Kalayaan (MMSI:232019710), Capt. Peel was last seen March 18 or 19 as he departed Tyrell Bay in Carriacou in the Grenadines and headed north for San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

He was last heard from through an EPIRB transmission on March 24 at 12’ 38.88N 061’29.28W 12nm NW of Carriacou Nr Union Island.

The following has been posted to Facebook and making the rounds among yacht groups and chat groups. 

Capt. Bob Peel

“We are currently undergoing search for a very well-established captain from our yachting community, Robert/Bob Peel.

“We had last established comms with Bob on 14th March and that his planned voyage was to head north to San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was at anchor in Tyrell Bay, Carriacou. After 10 days of no comms, we started to get concerned and we contacted with the cruiser community down there. Someone eye witnessed his yacht Kalayaan departing the bay and headed north, this was 18th or 19th March.

“This evening, we have found out that his EPIRB has been set off first on the 19th March and then the final and last signal received was 24th March, [according to] Trinidad and Tobago SAR. We have contacted MRCC Falmouth, UK, USCG, San Juan PR, MRCC Martinque, SAR in Grenada and everyone seems to be bouncing around whose problem this is.

S/Y Kayalaan, last seen March 18 or 19; last heard from March 24.

“We are now reaching out to the yachting community, for people still south in the Caribbean or contacts you may have down there to help aid in the search for Bob. Watchkeepers in the vicinity, please keep an extra vigilant lookout for anything that may help us work out where Bob is. Bob is a strong, stubborn Scotsman. He is a survivor and won’t give up if he is in that life raft.”

Capt. Peel has an MCA Master Yachts (<3000gt) and has served as a captain, mate and engineer aboard numerous yachts, both power and sail, private and charter. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has completed more than 20 transAtlantic crossings and three Pacific crossings.

Prior to moving aboard Kalayaan in March 2019, he spent a couple months as relief aboard M/Y M/Y Lumiere II a 204-foot (62m) Lurssen, and four months working with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, first as skipper of the M/V Farley Mowat, the 112-foot (34m) former USCG cutter that patrolled the Sea of Cortez to help protect the almost-extinct Vaquita porpoise, and then aboard White Holly in Florida to undertake commissioning and sea trials before the vessel departed for Mexico.

He also attended The Triton’s From the Bridge captains lunch in April 2015 where we discussed ISM and its value for yachts, owners and captains.

Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher of The Triton. Comments are welcome below.

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About Lucy Chabot Reed

Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher and founding editor of The Triton.

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