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Old 08-09-2014, 00:36   #1
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Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

A swedish couple, Stefan and Svetlana Jerkander, were on their way from Croatia to Thailand when their cruising catamaran suddenly started to take in water through one of the escape hatches on the 13th of August. According to the Swedish article the boat sunk in less than 8 minutes about 20km outside the Sudanese cost.

The couple were not able to launch the life raft in time and jumped into the dinghy where they were stuck during 12 hours before sighting a first ship. The couple launched a flare but the ship started to turn away, afraid of it being a pirate-trap. The captain did however reconsider when the second flare was fired and decided to close on the little dinghy – but with heavily armed guards on the railing.

The couple were picked up and got a good welcome once onboard.

To make their challenges even more challenging they were not allowed to leave the vessel when it arrived in Kandla (India) as they did not have enough money to bribe the officials who requested 1000USD under the table to let then into the country. The couple are now heading to Singapore where the Swedish consulate has been informed and are to be waiting by the docks.

Have anybody found any other relevant information regarding this? Pictures of the catamaran can be found at the source listed below.

Source: Svenskarnas båt förliste på Röda havet | Nyheter | Expressen

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Old 08-09-2014, 05:35   #2
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Bad news to lose the boat, lucky to be rescued without EPIRB

Its correct that the ship does not stop till its next scheduled port. When getting rescued be prepared for a long voyage... or keep swimming till the next ship comes along.

Could you imagine what a shipping company would do to a Captain if the ship diverted to anohter port causing fuel wastage, harbor fees, clearance fees etc? $2,000 to go close and transfer to a pilot boat is cheap as chips.

Finally they are bloody lucky they weren't picked up by the Sudanese who would have fined them thousands for littering their sea.

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Old 08-09-2014, 06:45   #3
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

had a friend that when he pulled his cat out of the water he had the escape hatches taken out and glassed in. i don't remember seeing them on the new cats we were looking at in Miami. That really sucks they lost there boat.
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Old 20-12-2014, 18:56   #4
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Well, although it's kinda disappointing that the boat was lost it is still positive on the other hand that they were able to survive.
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Old 21-12-2014, 03:36   #5
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, penneyeugene.
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Old 21-12-2014, 05:02   #6
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Quote:
Originally Posted by scuba0_1 View Post
had a friend that when he pulled his cat out of the water he had the escape hatches taken out and glassed in. i don't remember seeing them on the new cats we were looking at in Miami. That really sucks they lost there boat.
They are mandatory by the RCD. If the cat is to be sold in Europe it has to have them. They meant to serve as a way out of the boat when the boat is capsized.
I don't see them as a problem if they are well designed and adequately maintained. I don't understand how one could let enough water in to sunk a cat. Didn't they had bilge pumps?
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Old 21-12-2014, 05:12   #7
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

I can not see a bilge pump keeping up with a 20x20 hole in the boat
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Old 21-12-2014, 05:36   #8
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

The Op said that "started to take in water through one of the escape hatches". There is many ways of taking water by an hatch being the more radical one a broken hatch and I did not think that was the case, but after reading the original article on the link it seems that was what happen. A broken hatch is pretty rare. I would like to know how old was that boat and how it broke.
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Old 22-12-2014, 16:26   #9
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Polux View Post
They are mandatory by the RCD. If the cat is to be sold in Europe it has to have them. They meant to serve as a way out of the boat when the boat is capsized.
I don't see them as a problem if they are well designed and adequately maintained. I don't understand how one could let enough water in to sunk a cat. Didn't they had bilge pumps?
Unfortunately most are not well designed. Many just stick standard Lewmar hatches (which are junk) in the hole. I've seen a number of cats swamped this way...both by failures and carelesness. No way any normal bildge pump could keep up with such a gaping hole.

A charter guest in Belize also fell thru a bridge deck installed one which was left open and busted their ribs last year...fortunately not on my watch.

If I had a boat with such I would either glass them in or redesign with a proper solid hatch and better saftey mechanisms.

Something like traditional dead eyes for them would be a good idea too.
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Old 22-12-2014, 17:06   #10
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

The couple was lucky.

The necessity to bribe officials is unfortunate. Nice of the ship to take them to Singapore.

Merchant vessels sure do help a lot of recreational or non-professional sailors, it seems from many accounts of rescues of sailboats, and I thank them for doing so.
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Old 22-12-2014, 20:16   #11
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Steady Hand,
I agree that merchant vessels do a wonderful job helping / assisting / rescuing sailors all over the world!!

And, unless you get into trouble within a couple hundred miles of the US coast (within USCG Helo range), or within the limited range of a few other Coast Guards of some first world nations, 99.9% of all other assistance / rescue comes from merchant vessels plying the oceans everyday!!


FYI, all seagoing nations (159, at last count) are signatories of the SOLAS conventions (maybe not N. Korea, not sure about them), and while I haven't read them in detail, one of the tenants is that ALL vessel masters are required to render assistance / attempt rescue when directed to by a RCC, or when receiving a distress call directly (flare, radio, flashing strobe, etc.), unless directed away by an RCC....
(of course, short of endangering their own vessel, they are required to render assistance / rescue)
This is the "SOLAS V" convention, and applies to ALL vessels, private yachts, sail or power, fishing, scientific, etc. as well as all merchant vessels....whether coastal or on the hi-seas....
The fact that merchant vessels are better prepared / trained to actually do this, compared to our fellow sailors is no surprise, but be assured that the SOLAS V rules apply to us as well...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steady Hand View Post
Merchant vessels sure do help a lot of recreational or non-professional sailors, it seems from many accounts of rescues of sailboats, and I thank them for doing so.
If you wish to learn a good bit about this, EPIRB's, AMVER, etc....have a look at this page here, and follow the links (especially the COSPAS-SARSAT and Cruising World links)....

EPIRB Activation? What happens/How to improve rescue odds



Fair winds...

John
s/v Annie Laurie


P.S. Here is a video showing global ship traffic worldwide....as you can see, along most of the popular cruising routes and destinations, there are merchant vessels sailing along typically within a few hundred miles of our routes / destinations...

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Old 22-12-2014, 22:54   #12
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Polux View Post
The Op said that "started to take in water through one of the escape hatches". There is many ways of taking water by an hatch being the more radical one a broken hatch and I did not think that was the case, but after reading the original article on the link it seems that was what happen. A broken hatch is pretty rare. I would like to know how old was that boat and how it broke.
I'm fairly sure, from the news photo, that it was a Nautitech 40. Since I own one, I can share a sketch from the owner's manual showing the escape hatch in relation to the waterline. The design waterline may be at the level of the 'black' antifouling but a realistic waterline is close to the bottom of the 'stripe'. However, that still leaves the base of the hatch 4" - 6" above the waterline.

If the hatch somehow popped out, 'white water' would be taken in but not green. If both crew were on deck, it's conceivable that enough white water would enter to reach the point of no return (when green water starts to enter as one hull sinks 4" - 6") assuming that there was no operational bilge pump. I have intentionally flooded a hull to the cabin sole (for a good spring-clean) and note roughly 2" rise in waterline, so there would have been a lot of water sloshing around the cabin before the point of no return was reached.

By the way, the escape hatches are similar to Lewmar deck hatches but have FOUR levers instead of two, so the hinge is not relied on.
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Old 23-12-2014, 08:15   #13
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

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Originally Posted by chris in SG View Post
I'm fairly sure, from the news photo, that it was a Nautitech 40. Since I own one, I can share a sketch from the owner's manual showing the escape hatch in relation to the waterline. The design waterline may be at the level of the 'black' antifouling but a realistic waterline is close to the bottom of the 'stripe'. However, that still leaves the base of the hatch 4" - 6" above the waterline.

If the hatch somehow popped out, 'white water' would be taken in but not green. If both crew were on deck, it's conceivable that enough white water would enter to reach the point of no return (when green water starts to enter as one hull sinks 4" - 6") assuming that there was no operational bilge pump. I have intentionally flooded a hull to the cabin sole (for a good spring-clean) and note roughly 2" rise in waterline, so there would have been a lot of water sloshing around the cabin before the point of no return was reached.

By the way, the escape hatches are similar to Lewmar deck hatches but have FOUR levers instead of two, so the hinge is not relied on.
Thanks, that is about what I was thinking. They say a broken hatch but to a relatively small hatch to be broken is needed a huge force. Maybe a defect in building and all the hatch was ripped off? Anyway that is odd. I would like to know more about all this and I bet you are specially interested regarding it. Maybe you should contact Nautitech to know what really happened?
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Old 23-12-2014, 08:57   #14
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Okay, I'm going to admit my ignorance here, regarding cruising catamarans...
(except for a few afternoon sails on a Hobie 16, as a teenager, which I flipped over once and came close a second time, I've been a monohull sailor now for > 40 years, so I don't have any personal experience on modern cruising multihulls...)

FYI, I've been cruising / sailing / voyaging since the mid 1960's, including many seasons in the Bahamas, Caribbean, Med, etc., multiple Atlantic crossings, numerous full gales offshore at sea (including 3 days thru a Tropical Storm), and three Cat 3 hurricanes at anchor....but all on monohulls, never on a Cat....

SO...

So, while I understand the advantage of an "escape hatch" on a vessel that has gone turtle...
And my first look at them was on the big Open's / BOC / 'round-the-world racers, where the keel bulb was stuck on the end of a wafer thin blade, where well-found concerns were that the boats would break off the keel, and the sailor would need an "escape hatch" to get out safely...

Are most cruising cats so unsafe that they need "escape hatches"???

Sorry to ask such a "loaded" question, and I imagine that multihull sailors will just say it is gov't regulations run amuck and/or the overly litigious society we live in (both the US and EU), and that monohull sailors will just say that all multi's capsize all the time...
But, I'm honestly trying to learn the facts...if that's possible


I thank you all in advance....

Fair winds...

John
s/v Annie Laurie
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Old 23-12-2014, 18:18   #15
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Re: Cruising Catamaran sinking in the Red Sea (13 aug 2014)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ka4wja View Post
.....

Are most cruising cats so unsafe that they need "escape hatches"???

Sorry to ask such a "loaded" question, and I imagine that multihull sailors will just say it is gov't regulations run amuck and/or the overly litigious society we live in (both the US and EU), and that monohull sailors will just say that all multi's capsize all the time...
But, I'm honestly trying to learn the facts...if that's possible


I thank you all in advance....

Fair winds...

John
s/v Annie Laurie
Of course not. Facts are that cruising cats rarely capsize or sink. A number of threads here discussing this subject.
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