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

[Doe818]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

And BTW the Alpha people have been in business a long time. This catamaran is just a new boat for them.
Home Page

Nice website, very surprising that they built more boats than Beneteau and Jeanneau, I would never have guessed that. This sort of marketing has Gregor written all over it...and I suspect may be the source of the involuntary barfing mentioned earlier by someone....perhaps a case of if you want to know how good they are, don't worry he'll be sure to tell you....

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Doe818

His book is a must have?? OK. I was not all that impressed (rigs that should fall down before multis capsize?...lovely...seems similar logic may apply to his rudders?) and thought chris white's effort was far better...never been a fan of the alpha 42, it seems a bit of a toy, time will tell I guess.

Chris White's latest Atlantic 47 sailed to the 2013 Annapolis show from Awoplast, S.A. in Chile after she was built. No freighter rides...

I was on-board with Chris, the builder and Charlie Doane while they were shooting the video's for Sail Magazine and got to hear about all the little details that went into that vessel... It is a truly remarkable build quality and boat.. That's a long break-in / commissioning sail, from Chile to Annapolis....

I am certain Charlie Doane will be posting something about the rescue on his blog:

WaveTrain Blog - Charles Doane

[JayH]

Here's another article.

Portsmouth man rescued from sailboat | Local News - WMUR Home

[lancelot9898]

Two comments after looking at the video. While I've never sailed a large cat, but keeping a dingy on davits for such a passage seems problematic at least for a monohull. The other comment is about letting the boat stay afloat and be a hazzard to navigation.

[Southern Star]

Boatman, before you start expounding upon your vastly superior experience you might wish to consider the resume of the skipper of this boat. Hank Schmitt (erroneously referred to as Hank Schmidt in media reports) has purportedly averaged 100 days and 10,000 miles a year at sea over the last 20 years. He is the organizer (as well as a participant) in the annual NARC rally from Newport to St. Martin and is probably North America's best known delivery skipper.

It is all well and fine to armchair quarterback, but one can rest assured that the decision to abandon ship was not taken lightly. Keep in mind that if the rudder shafts are bent in a position that seizes the rudders at an acute angle, the emergency tiller/s are useless, as is any attempt to steer with a drogue. What is more, as I understand it the owners were onboard and it would not surprise me if they preferred to abandon ship and make an insurance claim on the full value of their new boat, rather than end up with a new boat that might survive, but would do so with significant damage.

At this point all we can say with certainty is that we are happy to hear that captain and crew survived what must have been an ordeal in the North Atlantic at this time of year.

Brad

[boatman61]

Hope they've a good insurance company and full cover..
I'm sure they will have..

[maytrix]

Originally Posted by Southern Star

What is more, as I understand it the owners were onboard and it would not surprise me if they preferred to abandon ship and make an insurance claim on the full value of their new boat, rather than end up with a new boat that might survive, but would do so with significant damage.

That shouldn't have any impact at all on their decision. Abandoning a boat at Sea should be about the risk to your life, not financially motivated.

[Southern Star]

I would also be remiss if I did not make a few comments about Gregor Tarjan and the Alpha 42. Yes, there was some advertising fluff about the intial test sail - so what?

Gregor is to be commended for attempting to produce a cruising cat at a competitive price in North America - no small task when one considers that the French Government provided subusidies to kick-start many of their manufactuers and that the South African manufacturers have much lower labour costs. Rather than being merely another overweight, under-performing cat designed primarily for the charter industry, he has kept the weight to a reasonable level and included such features as an unstayed, carbon-fiber prodder as standard equipment.

Was there a design or manufacturing flaw? It is far too early to determine and, as has been pointed out, a number of boats have suffered terminal rudder failure in bad conditions. I for one hope that, like captain and crew of the prototype, Gregor and his exciting new design survive this storm.

Brad

[Fiveslide]

In the new article, Doane states all electrical power was lost. The boat lost steering, propulsion AND all electrical power. The build blog says it had a generator... that must have become one of the many useless systems.

I think it is a seriously flawed build if all of these systems fail in the same incident.

[Southern Star]

Make no mistake, maytrix, remaining afloat in the North Atlantic in January in a disabled vessel poses a risk to life and limb for the crew. They had bailed and attempted repairs for days before the decision was made. Could they have waited a few more days, or a week in hopes that a commercial tow could be arranged? Possibly, but we do not know the forecast or the feasability for the same some 300 miles offshore. We also do not know if the boat could have been successfully towed for that distance, in those conditions, with that damage.

My point was that, in the circumstances, it would not be surprising that an insured owner would decide to abandon ship then, rather than wait on a boat that might survive, albeit badly damaged (take note that I italicized 'might' survive in my original post as well).

Brad

[JayH]

Another article. Doane mentions the decision to file an insurance claim rather than save a damaged vessel. He thinks the boat will sink.


City man airlifted off disabled sailboat | SeacoastOnline.com

[Southern Star]

Fiveslide, it is far too early to suggest that the build was 'seriously' flawd. If the damaged rudder shafts allowed sufficient water into the hulls to flood the engine/generator compartments, all of those systems would eventually fail. We cannot forget that 'rogue' waves are fact and not fiction; indeed, a wave that was sufficiently large to not only stop an 18,000 lb. cat in its tracks, but to force it backwards must have been rather large, don't you think?

We will get reports as to what happened but until then, I don't think it is fair to jump to any conclusions, let alone such strong ones.

Brad

[Doe818]

I'm confused, you said they should be commended for not building an overweight cat, but in your post above you say that it's 18 tons?? Is it really 18 tons?

[Southern Star]

Sorry, 18,000 lbs., as I recall.

[Fiveslide]

Originally Posted by Southern Star

Fiveslide, it is far too early to suggest that the build was 'seriously' flawd. If the damaged rudder shafts allowed sufficient water into the hulls to flood the engine/generator compartments, all of those systems would eventually fail. We cannot forget that 'rogue' waves are fact and not fiction; indeed, a wave that was sufficiently large to not only stop an 18 ton cat in its tracks, but to force it backwards must have been rather large, don't you think?

We will get reports as to what happened but until then, I don't think it is fair to jump to any conclusions, let alone such strong ones.

Brad

I think we can say this build is flawed. Can't say the design is flawed. Can't say the boat was sailed badly.