Alpha 42 "Be Good Too" rescue 300 miles off Cape Henry Merged

[Sand crab]

Thanks Downunder. I figured I would just post the account

We have very sad news. On route from New York to the Caribbean our Alpha 42 Nr 1 was hit by a big rogue wave. On Monday Jan 13th the US Coast guard received a pick up-call from Capt Hank Schmitt who skippered Be Good Too.
Capt. Hank Schmitt is a professional delivery captain with over 200,000 ocean miles and over 50 passages along the same route. Hank was carefully chosen by the owner as he is a very experienced catamaran sailor.
Schmitt’s account :”.…We had just passed the Gulfstream in rough waters sailing on a close reach under a double reefed mainsail at 8 knots with the autopilot engaged. All was well when suddenly we got hit by a big rogue wave that not only stopped the boat but violently pushed us backwards onto our rudders. At that point we realized that both rudders were severely damaged. One rudder spun around the stock, the other rudder reversed against the hull and was jammed forcing the boat to port. Even with the stbd motor at full throttle the boat would only go to stbd. After spending 2 days sailing in a circle our options dwindled as the weather was deteriorating even more. Since we were 300 miles offshore we decided to make the call to be taken off the boat. The boat was very strong and we never felt unsafe. In spite of heavy impacts the boat did not have any structural issues. No monohull or catamaran steering system violently pushed backwards could have survived this. At one point the boat experienced 50 knot winds and 20 foot seas but the wave piercing bows worked great. We feel very sorry for the owners and the yard for the loss of this boat. ”
We feel very sorry for the loss of this beautiful yacht and are grateful to the men of the US Coast Guard that all 4 crewmen were safely evacuated. Pictures and videos taken by a Jayhawk MH-60 rescue helicopter show the boat perfectly intact. It seems unjustified and is heartbreaking for us to see this labor of more than 2 years abandoned. A salvage company will try to retrieve the boat as soon as conditions permit.
It should be noted that the rudders of the boat were built of massive 1.5 inch solid stainless round tube welded to a closed framework of 2″ wide by 1/4″ thick stainless bars with (2) vertical and (3) horizontal members. Unfortunately no rudder is designed to suddenly lurch into reverse and have 10 Tons of torque applied to them.
Any readers who are interested in finding out more details about this incident can contact Capt. Hank Schmitt. (offshorepassage@sprintmail.com)
Anyone interested in finding out more details of the construction of the boat, please contact the builder, Marc Anassis (marc@alpha1composites.com)
See the video rescue video

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by downunder

Have to agree that it a bad time to be sailing there but I certainly would not like to be there in any vessel in those conditions. Not sure a CSY would have fared any better. Seems they are planning for a salvage as soon as conditions improve.

Would be handy to have a transmitter of some sort on board.

No idea,a CSY 44 is something around 16 tons and doing 8 knts to weather is imposible in this conditions, for sure the rudder in a CSY is overkill, but i dont think a 20 ft wave can push backwards a CSY , but who know, in any case the wave piercing bows have something to do , i prefer a to put the keels in the air and hope for a good landing, my 2 cents...

[smj]

If they never felt unsafe why did they abandon?

[Sand crab]

I think one of the members here postulated that it might have been a rogue wave event. I'll have to go back in this thread and find out who it was.

[neilpride]

No rudders , no Yanmars, Game Over...

[Doe818]

Interesting account on the aeroyacht site. Noted that the skipper did not mention any water ingress or 'hand pumping for 50 hours' and went on to say she was still structurally sound. It appears then we may have 2 versions of what happened already. Its a tough one, one could blame the boat / design (not what the builder wants), one could blame the crew (not what he crew wants), or one could blame the weather (which one would hope should not object)....but I also note the weather has now become 50 knots and 20 feet...hmmmm

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by smj

If they never felt unsafe why did they abandon?

Because they could only sail in circles and the weather was forecast to deteriorate.

[colemj]

Good god, Tarjan can spin anything. On his website, he now states that no other monohull or catamaran could have survived intact what this boat did. We will never know if this was really a "massive rogue wave" or just a bit of unpleasant ocean that schooled a new design.

He describes the rudder construction as such: "It should be noted that the rudders of the boat were built of massive 1.5 inch solid stainless round tube"

Massive 1.5" tube? Does this sound massive to anyone else? Our old, smaller, lighter, wimpier, and less macho Manta catamaran has 2" solid stock.

I have been pulling all along for this boat and this business, even while throwing up inside my mouth a bit every time Tarjan writes his over-the-top PR fluff (Artic gales?), but I am now thinking he is not a good designer or builder and he screwed the pooch on this boat.

I may be projecting badly and wrongly on the boat just because of Tarjan's latest round of oral diarrhea, so I reserve the right to return to routing for this boat and business.

But right now, I don't see myself doing so.

Mark

[downunder]

Originally Posted by smj

If they never felt unsafe why did they abandon?

A tad cold out there in the long run I suspect.

[DeepFrz]

I wonder if having an editor on board a ship wreck will change Sail Magazine's attitude about what constitutes a good off shore boat? I wonder if they will continue to claim everything that floats is great for offshore just for the advertising revenue.

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by colemj

Good god, Tarjan can spin anything. On his website, he now states that no other monohull or catamaran could have survived intact what this boat did. We will never know if this was really a "massive rogue wave" or just a bit of unpleasant ocean that schooled a new design.
Mark

He was quoting Captain Schmitt.

[smj]

Originally Posted by downunder

A tad cold out there in the long run I suspect.

But didn't they have bottles of good wine to warm their souls?

[smj]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

Because they could only sail in circles and the weather was forecast to deteriorate.

Is that a good enough reason to jump ship? I'm sure they knew the risks of sailing south in the middle of winter. I'm also pretty sure the boat will be found intact and floating so to me a waste of money and resources.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

He was quoting Captain Schmitt.

Just the part about the wave - the rest of the spin about the rudders, etc is him.

And I don't give him enough slack to not have put those words in his mouth or coach a quote out of him.

Believe me, this is the first time I have thought poorly of Tarjan.

Mark

[Cotemar]

Alpha 42 "Be Good Too"
List of evens and problems

1 New boat design

2 New boat build, Hull #1

3 Very short sea trial because of the cold winter weather and ice on desks

4 They were on a schedule to get to BVI

5 Left Long Island New York in winter weather

6 Going south against winter northerlies

7 Going south into strong northern Gulf Stream currents

8 Hit with 2 Roque waves with 3 reefs and autopilot on, slamming the boat violently backwards

9 Both Rudders twisted and bent

10 Even with the stbd motor at full throttle the boat would only go to stbd in circles

11 Both engines would not start

12 Lost all electrical and electronics

13 Weather deteriorating even more

14 They were 300 miles off shore