Conference unifix::sailing

    Thats a sad story to hear.  I think the theory of what happened is as 
    reasonable as any.  Its kind of hard to believe that hypothermia took
    him without his having taken any apparent efforts to warm himself up
    such as putting some clothes on.... but I know disorientation is one
    of the characteristics of hypothermia.
    
    Crossing the North Atlantic so late in the season:  Wasn't an October
    crossing pushing it a bit for this time of year?  If it was
    theoretically a six week crossing that would put them off England in
    early November.
    
    Jeff

Without meaning to in any way belittle the tragedy that happened, 
crossing the Atlantic in October/November at high latitudes does seem 
less than prudent, perhaps even ill-advised.

I looked at the October/November North Atlantic Pilot Charts last 
night. For much/most of the crossing there would be a 30% to 40% 
probability of seas 12' or more, an average average wind speed of 20 
to 30 knots (Force 5 to 6 with headwinds likely), and an average air
temperature of 50 deg F (10 deg C). This would clearly be a cold,
tiring, even exhausting, passage at best. I find it surprising that a
couple in their 60s would attempt the trip. I wonder if they knew what
they were getting into. 

Alan

    It does seem somewhat late, however with a little luck you can make
    the trip in 10 days to 2 weeks.  Apparently this couple had been at
    this for a while so they should have know what they were about.
    
    But I agree, Oct is into the tail end of the Hurricane season and
    November can be bitterly cold, freezing spray and icing on the rigging
    can occur.
    
    

    There were winds gusting 60 knots along parts of the UK coast that
    weekend. Sunday morning racing was cancelled at Southampton.
    Temperatures have since dropped to around freezing.
    
    Dave 

    One the Boston Stations had video of a CG airdrop onto a freighter
    this weekend. Evidently the 40+ sailboat went down in the Atlantic. The
    crew got into the liferaft and was picked up by the friegher in 40-50 ft
    seas, but the crew had hypothermia. Anyone pick up any other details?

    It was a 30 footer, not a 40 + footer.  40 to 50 foot seas! Whew!
    
    Makes you wonder if 'they should have been out there'.
    
    Jeff

re .6:

Our liferaft is serviced annually at Landrigan Corp in Boston. I've
talked to Capt. Landrigan a little about life on the North Atlantic as a
professional merchantman sailor. Easy, it ain't. Dangerous, it can be,
very, and especially in winter. He's looked up at wave crests from a
bridge 50' above the ship's waterline. Cargo ships are loaded according
to the severity of the expected weather -- the worse the weather, the
less cargo that can be carried. On the usual shipping routes, the worst
weather is the North Atlantic in winter. 

I declined an "opportunity" to help deliver a Valiant 40 from Boston to 
Baltimore the first few days of this month, partly because I didn't want 
to be miserably cold for four or five days, but mostly because of the 
riskiness of winter sailing. 

Alan

    re prior:  I suppose the key word here is the word 'usual' shipping
    routes.  
    
    As I understand it the Southern Ocean puts the North Atlantic to shame?
    
    Jeff

    re .8
    
    no, the southern Atlantic is "fine" until 30 deg south. The southern
    Atlantic is the only ocean without hurricans. Winter and summer.
    You can cross the Atlantic in relativ safety at any time of the
    year, if your destination is Brasil.
    
    The square riggers used to change all sails from "summersails" to
    "wintersails", as soon as they reached 30 deg south.
    
    Peter

    re .5
    
      Well, those two wild and crazy guys finally made landfall in Ireland
    where the Japanese frieghter put in.
    
      They were on TV this morning.
    
    They were going from NY to the Bahamas and said the weather looked ok.
    Then 2 days out, they hear a storm is coming, but it didn't sound too
    bad for their 35 footer. Anyways, they guessed wrong. it was a real
    blow with constant 30 foot waves. The owner said the boat was handling
    this fine, but they got nailed by a rouge wave, a 40+ footer that stuffed
    the mast into the ocean. Evidently the cabin became a swimming pool and 
    the vessel was handling funny. They called the Coast Guard who
    showed up a couple hours later via chopper. They told the guys to stay
    with the boat, but the crew was scared, and wanted to get into the
    raft. Again the CG told them to stay with the boat, but the crew was
    really getting to be a pain (afraid 1 more rouge wave would sink her, and 
    the electronics were now fried) ,  so they got out the raft, hopped in,
    cut loose of the sloop, and waited for a freighter that was diverted to
    get them. They had heard it was only 15 miles away, but did not know that
    against the waves and wind, it was making 2 knots actual. So they
    bobbed for 4 hours until the Japanese freighter rescued them.
    
    
    john
    

The following was sent to me by a friend. It is another story of 
incredible foolishness and lack of common sense and prudence that kills
someone, unfortunately not the guilty. 

[I have taken the liberty of doing some editing for clarity since it 
seems that English is a second language for the author.]

******************************************************************************

The Christmas voyage of the yacht Talina :
a good example of a skipper unconciousness

The faith [fate] of the yacht Melinda Lee off the coast of New Zealand
[see Notes 1441 and 2249] raised a lot of reflections about security at
sea. Master mariners blamed blind going sailors that [who] think that
small is beautiful, four bells, all's well. Rules of the Road were
evocated [invoked] and often interpreted depending who was refer[r]ing
to the bible of the sea, just as any believer thinks that its [his]
religion is the only one that is going to take him to Heaven.
Personally, I tried with my experience at sea on sailboats, as well as
on ships, to analyse what can cause accident like the Melinda Lee to
happen. I stressed the diminishing professionalism of ship crews and the
poor maintenance carried on convenience flag vessels. I also pointed out
that too many sailors take the sea for granted and think that the boat
will take them across, just like a camel across the desert. I am
reporting and commenting here a recent case of superlative
unconciousness from Bermuda where I flew to spend Christmas [1995] time
with long time friends. I sailed here eight times heading South and I
know how cruel can be this passage. 

The Talina, a nice and sturdy Swan 65, arrived in Bermuda Dec.28 in the
morning, with a ragged mainsail, torn stern stanchions, no more dodger,
no more compass, a woman passenger with severe back injury and A CREW
MEMBER MISSING. This man passed [went] overboard about 150 miles North
of Bermuda. After searches by a USCG C-130 and a Bermudian container
ship, the body was not found. My mixed sailor and journalist blood
pressed me to enquire [inquire]. The boat [is] registered in Cayman
Islands, had a crew of ten French when she left Boston on Christmas Eve
for a visit to Bermuda. Among [the crew] were 4 children, the youngest
one being a 6-months old baby and the skipper-owner's parents, 67 and 60
years old and two young women without sailing experience. It appears
that only the skipper and a 30 years old guy had some sailing
experience. It is this crew that [who] was washed overboard by a rogue
sea that crashed in the mainsail and capsized the boat. According to the
skipper, his friend wore a harness. When the boat [returned] upright, he
rushed [on deck] and tried for 20 minutes to pull the line and bring his
friend on board. All he got when he reached the other end was an empty
harness. 

REFLECTIONS

1) The 24th of December a huge low pressure system hold [held] on the
north-eastern [US] coast. When we arrived in Bermuda, the 25th, the wind was
blowing a steady 45 knots reaching gusts to 58. The Atlantic weather map
showed the same pattern since at least the 23rd across to the US coast. How
can an experienced sailor decide to leave port in such conditions for a 700
miles voyage, just for the fun of celebrating Christmas at sea or the thrill
of a visit to Bermuda? The owner is a clean-cut doctor. First mistake: 
[he] should never have left port.

2) Who would dare to take three teens, a baby and two old persons in
such a passage at this time of the year? At a moment it reminded me of
the recent and last year mass suicides of the Order of the Solar Temple.
Second mistake: too many unexperienced [people[ on board for such a
passage at this time of the year. 

3) The Swan 65 is probably one of the most seaworthy sailboats afloat. But
it requires, from my point of view, at least six experienced crew members
to steer, trim and navigate on such a voyage that can be done in a little
less than five days. But they were only two on the Talina. And what
experience? How could the rest of the crew come on deck to help pulling
the man on board and help to search him? Third error: not enough
experienced crew. Panic button was pressed.

4) Why keep a one reef line [single reefed] mainsail in 50 knot wind and 35-40 foot seas
when the boat is cutter rig? A storm jib on the baby stay would have been
plenty to speed the boat well over ten knots when running or on a broad
reach. Then the boat would not have broached and capsized. Fourth mistake:
skipper waited too long or didn't take the decision to bring the main down.
When he tried to do it, he sent his only available experienced crew to do
it. In such sea and wind conditions this task requires at least three
strong men. In the attemp[t], the boat came crosswind and was ram[m]ed by the
rogue wave. The skipper, at least, should have known that he wasn't racing
the Withbread [Whitbread].

5) The owner was rich enough to buy a Swan 65, but forgot probably to
buy high sea foul weather jackets with incoporated harness attachement
and flotation device to cope with cold air and water. The lifelines on
deck were straps extensible overboard. Fifth mistake: The owner thought
to decorate a Christmas tree on board but was negligent in the security
on his passengers and crew. This visit to Bermuda could have well
resulted in ten losses of life. The flight on Delta from Boston to
Bermuda takes only an hour and a half and the cost for ten persons would
have been much less than the one for a new main sail and all the
repairs. Not talking about the loss of a friend. 

6) And to finish: the owner declared to custom officer upon arrival in
Bermuda that his intention was to return to Boston after the holiday
period [!!]. Is that enough ?

I just hope that this French doctor will feel guilty for ever. If such act
on unconciousness would have happened on land, chances are that he would be
prosecuted for manslaughter.

Real Bouvier, in Bermuda

    Six people as crew!!! (the rest is reasonable) If it cannot be done by
    one, then re-engineering is required until it can.
    
    Sorry, I can't agree with that call. Two (or even one) is possible with
    a conservative mindset and lots of planning.
    
    IMHO
    

re .12:

Well, maybe and maybe not. Rigging a Swan 65 or any large yacht so that
it could be handled by one person would be both very complex and very
expensive. And as complexity increases, the probability of equipment
failure, and the consequences of failure, increase rapidly. Sure, a
Stoway mainsail with hydraulic or electric drive could be fitted to a
Swan 65. And when it fails, then what? What if nothing fails except that
the one capable crew is incapacitated or killed? Then what? (Such a case
happened a year or two ago -- the owner of a boat returning from Bermuda
was washed overboard and the other two "crew" didn't even know how to
start the engine.) 

Sufficient and capable crew is a more reasonable and prudent proposition, 
it seems to me. The owner/captain has the responsibility for taking 
sufficient care to prevent injury/death to his crew and passengers. 
If the estate of the lost crewman sues the owner of the Swan 65, I hope 
the owner is financially reduced to sailing an old Sunfish.

    re .13
    
        Chances are the Doctor has really good insurance and umbrella
    coverage for just such a suite. In the end you and I will pay for
    it in higher premiums.

Alan please feel free to move this to a more appropriate location.

This past weekend the fishing vessel (Francis Lynn) got caught betweena
tug and her barge.  All three aboard died after being trapped inside for
a couple of hours.  TV news was pretty sketchy.

As I understand it, this was a gill netter.  So she was relatively top
heavy even for her ~60? foot length.  If so, were the nets hampering
maneouverablity.

I think this happened at night.  Though I do not know where.  Best guess
I have heard so far is Ilse of Shaols and (the Thimble?).  Good places
for the tuna they were fishing for.  Also there seems to have been other
fishing vessels in the area.  However, I do not know how close they were.
 I am guessing that the Francis Lynn was not maintaining a watch, other
than perhaps a radar proximity warning.  Has anyone heard?

I heard that her throttle was ahead dead slow.  This would imply hands on
deck to tend nets etc.  Any informtion there?


How fast was the tug going?  Was it going through a fishing fleet?  My
understanding was that Francis Lynn was wood and glass.  Did the Tug have
a watch?  Were they going slow enough to maneuver if the watch saw
something?

Apparrently the men were trapped with and air pocket.  This disappeared
when she shifted position.  With a CG 42 and a tug on site, why wasn't
she at least stabilized while waiting for divers?  I do not recall seas
being a problem.  Depending on where they were, perhaps they could have
intentionally grounder her on a beach.  With a glass and wood hull, a
chain saw could quickly provide egress.  (Are there air driven chain
saws?).

Any facts or speculation would be welcome.  If you are speculating, try
to identify it as such.  Forinstance, the only facts here are three
fishermen died in an accident involving a tug and barge.  The rest is
speculation.

re .15:

As I recall the Boston Globe story ..... The boat was about 45' and 
probably was running on autopilot with the crew asleep about 10 miles 
east of Cape Ann, MA. It was a tuna fishing boat. Aren't tuna harpooned? 
Anyway, no nets were out. The crew was experienced and certainly should 
have recognized the lights of a tug towing a barge. (The Globe mentioned 
that the tow wire wasn't lit. Yeah, right. Doing that would be a really 
easy.) The tug sounded its horn as the fishing vessel neared the tow 
wire. A tug towing a barge on a 1000' hawser is not exactly manueverable 
-- any significant course change would take a long time. A trawler with 
nets out would be (my guess) more able to change course. I would assume 
that an inverted power boat would be quite unstable and quite likely to 
roll. Fully stabilizing it down side up would be extremely difficult 
without major salvage gear (my guess) and it certainly could not have 
been towed any distance. 

Based on the Globe article, my feeling is that the crew took a chance 
and lost. Sounded to me that the tug crew was not at fault. On my first
overnight singlehanded sail, I barelly missed hitting an unlit, drifting
commercial fishing boat 60' to 75' (maybe) long between Cape Ann and
Portland. After I blew my air horn repeatedly, a crew person turned on
an all-round white light (red would have been proper). Methinks that
everyone asleep may be all too common. Autopilots/self-steering are well
and good, but you still have to keep a watch. A radar with a proximity
alarm doesn't recognize lights. On my overnight sail from Marblehead to 
Maine three weeks ago, in fog we came a little too close to a tug towing a 
barge. The tug crew turned on its searchlight and blew its horn to make 
sure we knew that they were there. My crew (former US Navy deck officer) 
knew enough to not pass behind the tug. 

Alan

    The boat was the Heather Lynn II, a fiberglass novi gillnetter. They
    were (going) tuna fishing. I was also tuna fishing that day. The seas
    were calm where I was fishing, about 10 miles from southern Jefferies 
    where the boat capsized. I didn't know this crew, but have known a few
    other people that have fished on this boat. 
    
    They most likely were going to use rod/reels for the tuna. On the ledge 
    they would anchor and use chum (cut fish) to attract the tuna. The
    Globe has two stories about it in todays paper.
    
    
    Steve