Atlantic 57 Leopard Recovered

[John Stone]

I was working on the Far Reach today at Beaufort Marine Center in Beaufort NC when my wife noticed an inverted catamaran being towed into the Jarett Bay industrial Comples (BMC is located in the complex). We walked over and talked to the salvage crew. Turns out the cat is Leopard, an Atlantic 57, which was flipped in a violent squall last Nov about 400 miles north of the Dominican Republic. She was spotted yesterday about 30 miles off Cape Lookout. Apparently, a fisherman spotted her. SeaTow made the recovery. I recall reading about the loss of Leopard. The crew crawled up on top of the cat and were all safely recovered. Externally, she looked to be in good shape. I am sure she will be upright and on the hard by tomorrow.

[Jim Walsh]

I'm glad everyone survived and it's good that this hazard to safe navigation has been removed. I am surprised to find the builder advertising on the underside of the vessels bridgedeck (if that is the proper term, I know little of multi hulls). It's as if they expect their product to flip over eventually. If not that, it was a billboard intended for porpoises and whales.

[John Stone]

Hi Jim
Though I agree with your sentiments, the builder was Aqidneck Custom Composites.

http://www.aquidneckcustom.com/our-cust ... tlantic-57

There is a catamaran builder called Leopard but I think that's just a coincidence. The link above has some pictures. She appears to have been beautifully constructed.

I would have hated to run into her offshore. With the dark bottom paint she would have been invisible, especially at night.

[Jeff and Sarah]

Atlantic Catamarans (designed by Chris White) are gorgeous. Hopefully everyone was OK and unharmed. This is definitely not a Leopard-brand catamaran, but it still seems like an interesting place for the boat name!

If you haven't seen the Atlantic 47, it is worth a quick internet search. It is really an impressive boat with an interesting rig.

We are deep into catamaran shopping as that will be the next boat in a few years. These Atlantics will probably remain outside our price range but they have some really interesting ideas including a sailing cockpit forward of the cabin and an second helm in the cabin.

[John Stone]

There is an Atlantic 55 for sale on the hard two boats over from the Far Reach. The owner/builder is a great guy. She has been sailed but is not finished. He is finishing out the interior now. It's a very cool boat. And best of all, her name is not displayed on the underside of the bridge-deck.

[Sea Hunt Video]

I am amazed at the two hulls. They are so clean. I know the cat was upside down for the 6 months it was floating in the Atlantic but I would have thought there would be some growth from ocean seas washing over the hulls and depositing all manner of debris, sea grass, ocean organisms, etc. Sadly, those hulls are cleaner (and appear smoother) than the hull on S/V Bali Ha'i.

On a somewhat related topic I seem to recall reading that with most sturdily built monohull sailboats (like a Cape Dory 25D) should the sailboat get "knocked down" with the mast in the water that the sailboat will right itself eventually. I have always doubted this, especially if the mainsail was up at the time of the knock down and even if someone could release the mainsheet to let it run free. I would think the mainsail would fill with water and make "righting" almost impossible.

John S. I know this post sort of takes your thread on a different tack. I apologize.

[John Stone]

Roberto
No worries. It's an appropriate drift. I can't speak for a CD 25 but I am very confident the Far Reach will come right up. The biggest threat during a sustained knock-down is down-flooding through an opening companionway or deck hatch. It is the single big criticism of the offset companionway to starboard on the CD 36--it is more subject to down-flooding should she get kicked-down to starboard.

The excellent ballast displacement ratio combined with the narrow beam makes it highly unlikely a CD will be down long if at all. But in any event the number one action during a knockdown is to release the main and Jib sheets.

John

[Jim Walsh]

Roberto
No worries. It's an appropriate drift. I can't speak for a CD 25 but I am very confident the Far Reach will come right up. The biggest threat during a sustained knock-down is down-flooding through an opening companionway or deck hatch. It is the single big criticism of the offset companionway to starboard on the CD 36--it is more subject to down-flooding should she get kicked-down to starboard.

The excellent ballast displacement ratio combined with the narrow beam makes it highly unlikely a CD will be down long if at all. But in any event the number one action during a knockdown is to release the main and Jib sheets.

John

One of the modifications I made in anticipation of a knock down was to add latches to my top drop board so I can secure them in place from inside and outside the cabin. I found it was an RYA requirement for any vessel going offshore and it made lots of sense. I'm not real happy with the hardware I chose but it is effective.
Limiting water intrusion just might allow you to survive a knock down or rollover. Pitchpoling is in a class by itself and the stuff of nightmares.

[John Stone]

Hi Jim
It's a tricky mod. I have thought about it for a long time. I have come up with a good way to lock the companionway from the inside but not from the outside so that it can be released from the inside.

I want to keep the drop boards without hardware attached to them directly, so they remain flat stacking.

Also, for those out voyaging, it's important to be able to lock your boat while you are sleeping but not cut off the airflow.

Can you share what you have come up with regarding locking the drop boards in place?

[Jim Walsh]

Hi Jim
It's a tricky mod. I have thought about it for a long time. I have come up with a good way to lock the companionway from the inside but not from the outside so that it can be released from the inside.

I want to keep the drop boards without hardware attached to them directly, so they remain flat stacking.

Also, for those out voyaging, it's important to be able to lock your boat while you are sleeping but not cut off the airflow.

Can you share what you have come up with regarding locking the drop boards in place?

Don't laugh too hard at my "first day on the job sub-journeyman's apprentice" solution.

[John Stone]

Jim
That's a very sensible and robust solution. Looks professionally executed too. I'm not sure how else to do it withoutout getting complicated.

I an idea I am working on that incorporates a removable shock cord. My normal SOP when offshore is to install a drop board in for each reef in the main. So, the system needs to be strong but flexible. And removable.

Well done Jim.

[Jim Walsh]

Jim
That's a very sensible and robust solution. Looks professionally executed too. I'm not sure how else to do it withoutout getting complicated.

I an idea I am working on that incorporates a removable shock cord. My normal SOP when offshore is to install a drop board in for each reef in the main. So, the system needs to be strong but flexible. And removable.

Well done Jim.

The shock cord solution is what most of the British guys use. They tend to use a cam cleat at both ends so it can be adjusted or removed inside or out. Just loop it over the drop board and tighten. I considered something similar and decided to go with the all or nothing approach. Unless it is calm seas and sunny skies I usually keep the boards in place. One wave top blown below can ruin your day.

[John Stone]

Down at the boatyard. Some pictures of Leopard upright and on the hard. She looks to be in pretty good shape.

[Doug Gibson]

I assume the placement of the vessel name in large letters on bottom is a safety practice for the exact emergency that occured. It allows other vessels or aircraft to easily identify the vessel while adrift and prevent a SAR response, with authorities able to confirm previous rescue of crew. Most vessels sail with EPIRB and hopefully able to request rescue almost immediately after capsize.

[Paul D.]

When I crewed on a wooden Atkins Ingrid 38 sailing from New Zealand to Australia, we fitted the boat out to NZ "Category I" specifications for offshore sailing. As you can imagine, the NZ military has a pretty wide area of sea to cover for rescues so it is in their interest to have boats sorted out and their crews armed with good information before they weigh anchor.

http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/sites/yach ... all%29.pdf

Trying to remember back, I worked on the boat for about six weeks full time, three of us. The major projects were adding a bronze pintel and gudgeon (the owner/builder carved them himself and had them cast) to the rudder, securing all the lockers below with latches, outfitting a dinghy/liferaft and ditch bag, and making sure we had reef systems able to be rigged for each sail in order to deal with high wind. We also ball peened copper rod through the mizzen and main masts to hold the goosenecks; they were originally lag bolted. It was a very good process to go through prior to going across the Tasman.

We had many conversations standing below imagining the boat upside down and looking for the problems that total inversion would cause. It is good practice for anyone planning to go offshore. As it was, we had such rough seas at times it was damn good we went through that exercise, even though we never came near to capsizing. Things found a way to fly around despite all our creative tie down ideas.