Sad story

[Stan W.]

The AP has been covering the story of a 45' sailboat that was taking on water several hundred miles off VA. Three crew were rescued off the boat yesterday. One was rescued out of the water today. The skipper was found dead in the water today. Though no doubt unpleasant, the conditions described did not seem unmanageable for a 45' boat. There probably will be some lessons for us all when the details come out.

http://cbs4boston.com/massachusetts/MA- ... _news_html

[rtbates]

Wife says he was an experienced sailor. BUT he was NOT tethered?
Smart he wasn't. What an un-necessary tragedy.

randy 25D Seraph #161

[Guest]

This link provides some rescue footage of the boat. I have always been attracted to conservative designs like the Cape Dory's because they are simple and functional. The boat that people were rescued from has more ports than I can count and has a raised salon. Simple is better especially if you are going offshore and simple this boat is not. The article says the winds peaked at 35mph and the seas were 15 feet. That to me doesn't sound like a wopper of a storm especialy for a 45 foot boat with a full crew. If only he had a cape dory.

[Guest]

http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/4466263/detail.html

[Bill Goldsmith]

Here is a link to a bio of Capt. Tom Tighe.
http://www.bermudabound.info/Presenter.htm

This skipper had at least 45 round trip voyages from the East Coast to Bermuda and at least three to the BVI. He was the producer of a video and seminars on preparing a boat for offshore passages, specifically Bermuda, and offshore skippering skills.

A very sobering story. He was apparently preparing a liferaft for deployment when he was washed overboard. One can only guess that in the flurry of activity he neglected to clip in.

It also appears that the cause of the mayday was a wave that broke open a window. The lights on a Hardin 45 ketch are big.

[img]http://newimages.yachtworld.com/1/3/2/6 ... _thumb.jpg[/img]
As mentioned by the Guest above, it raises the question as to the offshore seaworthiness of that type of design as opposed to the smaller heavy ports installed on Cape Dorys. This is an issue that is on the syllabus of Capt. Tighe's seminar--click on the "Program" link from the link above.

As mentioned there is much to be learned from this tragedy--here was a well respected professional skipper who apparently suffered from bad luck rather than lack of knowledge or complacency. It seems that the size of those lights combined with the apparent failure to clip in emptied his "Vigor's black box" all at once.

My condolences to the family and friends of Capt. Tighe.

[Stan W.]

The boat that people were rescued from has more ports than I can count and has a raised salon.

The boat was a pilot house ketch with big forward facing portlights above the main salon. It appears that a big wave blew out one of these portlights and caused the boat to start taking on water which drowned the motor. There has been no information on whether or why pumps/bailing could not keep up with the water, whether or why they did not try to sail the boat, and whether or why the skipper and "first mate" were working on deck without tethers.

So far, the lessons seem to be (1) small ports really are better for blue water sailing and (2) if you must have big ports, carry deadlights and use them.

[Bill Goldsmith]

More pictures of the huge lights on the Hardin 45.

[img]http://newimages.yachtworld.com/1/0/2/2 ... _thumb.jpg[/img]

[img]http://newimages.yachtworld.com/1/2/0/3 ... _thumb.jpg[/img]

[img]http://newimages.yachtworld.com/1/2/0/3 ... _thumb.jpg[/img]

[Didereaux]

I could not find anything on the fate of the boat. Did it sink? If not there is a big question as to the captain(owners) true qualifications.

In my mind, and with little information(foolish to pursue, bot...<grin>), it becomes very problematic as to why the choice to abandon ship was made. The official reports were +30-35 knt winds, 16-20ft waves. A moderately heavy weather condition and certainly not anything life-threatening for even a moderately seaworthy craft, specially one 45' in length.

Here is my take- when the portlight stove-in and caused flooding of the engine the boat began to twist and turn and probably broach quickly, causoing some more water to ingress. The Captain panicked, pure and simple. Why didn't he rig up a board to block that broken port? There are plenty of items, from tables, to hatch covers, tarps, etc to make temporary fixes from. Also even with no manual bilge pumps there were at least four able-bodied (if somewhat geriatric) crew to bail. You have no idea haw many gallons per minute can be bailed with pots and pans by a determined seaman.

From the information it would sound as though they were motoring and not sailing, further it seems as though their bilge pumps were probably all electrical, with no manual back-ups. This is not that uncommon nowdays.

So the 'seasoned' Captain was probably a 'motor sailor' and not a sailor. As one of the old long voyagers noted, can't remember off hand who at the present, commented, "...some sailors have a wide range of voyages and conditionsto the same destination, others simply have made the same voyage many times." ...or something along those lines.

My last point is this, what reasonably knowledgable sailor would abandon ANY boat still floating in order to crawl into a rubber bathtub-sized thing in the middle of the ocean amid heavy seas?

Folks, before some of the more 'sensitive' amongst us begin the bewailing of my comments, I would simply remind them that the points of value are to be found in what caused this fiasco/tradgedy and what can be learned from them. If it was the all to common human error then that is the cause, sad or otherwise. If it is the design or condition of the boat, that too must be addressed. More than likely it is a combination, ,marginal boat, marginal captaining, combined with generalized and uncontrolled by the captain, panic in himself and the crew. A true recipe for disaster, on land or sea.

The number of these big boats sending out 'Maydays' and jumping ship whenever things get slightly wet or uncomfortable seems to be increasing...maybe just more are being reported. Whatever, I can tell you that the ramifications for the rest of us will be more, and more restrictions, rules, regulations and meddling to the point of strangulation of sailing as we know it. Just look around at consumer laws such as putting a warning on a clothing iron 'Do not hold against skin, can cause severe burns'. See what I mean?

submitted with the full knowledge that all my assuptions and comments are based on conjecture and minimal information...in which case read all of it as a poorly stated outline for a really bad novel. heh

[Stan W.]

what reasonably knowledgable sailor would abandon ANY boat still floating in order to crawl into a rubber bathtub-sized thing in the middle of the ocean amid heavy seas?

We've all heard the saying that you never leave the mother ship for a liferaft unless you are stepping UP to do it. In fairness, I don't think the skipper meant to break this rule. It appears that he and the first mate were preparing the liferaft "just in case" when a big wave swept them and the raft off the boat.

[Danno]

my condolences to his family and friends.

[Marianna Max]

condolences here too but I wonder if we could talk about marine glass.

It seems foolish to have glass that when cracked, lets in water. What a weak spot!

It seems to me that some sort of sandwiching technique is in order? Tempered glass sandwiched over plastic maybe? Does such a thing exist?

[rtbates]

All those ports should have had a "ready to go" cut out of heavy plywood. To be used WHEN not IF the port blows out.
Be very careful with whom you venture offshore.
And buy a Mustang Survival Suit! The cheapest life insurance you can buy.

Randy 25D Seraph #161

[Tim Mertinooke]

This website has a great powerpoint presention about seaworthy vs. non-seaworthy vessels. They even make mention of the CD-28. Although the report was written in 2004, the statistics used were from 1998. They say the USCG statistic for the cause of accidents at sea is "89% human error" and "11% design construction and equipment failure". One recomendation they offer...storm shutters for all port lights. This one recomendation that all offshore captains should know could have avoided the probable cause of this dire situation. My condolances to the victims family for their tragic loss.

http://web.usna.navy.mil/~phmiller/offshore.ppt

[Stan W.]

The first mate has given some interviews.

He says that a big wave actually capsized the boat. After the boat righted itself, the captain made the decision to deploy the life raft. It is not clear whether that means they had decided to abandon ship right then or whether they just wanted the raft ready if they needed it. There are no new details about the extent of damage to the boat after the capsize, but it does appear that situation was more dire than originally reported.

He also says he and the captain were using tethers, but they broke when they were hit by the wave that knocked them into the water.

It now appears that a major factor was inability to keep the raft under control after it was inflated in the high winds. What, if anything, do the liferaft companies say about this?

[Neil Gordon]

It now appears that a major factor was inability to keep the raft under control after it was inflated in the high winds. What, if anything, do the liferaft companies say about this?

What they say is to heave to and launch the raft to leeward. What I don't understand is the notion of preparing the raft. If the wind is that bad, expect to inflate the raft and get into it. If you're not ready to go, don't inflate. Otherwise, you're asking the raft to leave without you.